Favourite Recipes: Chicken in Green Masala Sauce

Chicken in Green Masala Sauce

To me, this recipe is fairly different from the sort of curries you find in restaurants and even in cookbooks of Indian home cooking. The sauce has a fairly light and somewhat fresh taste to it, and is a little sweet. It doesn't have a spicy flavour to it like curries tend to.

It’s quite quick to make, and has pretty broad appeal - so it’s good when you’re cooking for others.

It’s from “Best-Ever Curry: Over 150 great curries from India to Asia” (originally published with the title “Curry”) by Mridula Baljekar. pg 47.


Serves 4

• sauce
  • natural (plain) yoghurt, 150ml (2/3 cup)
    
  • fromage frais or ricotta cheese, 45ml (3 tbsp)
    
  • onions, garlic, ginger
    • spring onions (scallions), 1 bunch, chopped
      
    • garlic, 5ml (1 tsp), crushed
      
    • fresh ginger, 5ml (1 tsp), grated
  • other flavourings
    • crisp green eating apple, 1, peeled, cored and cubed
      
    • fresh corriander, 45ml (3 tbsp - but see note below)
      
    • fresh mint leaves, 30ml (2 tbsp)
      
    • fresh green chillis, 2, seeded and chopped
  • salt, 5ml (1 tsp)
    
  • granulated sugar, 5ml (1 tsp)
• vegetable oil, 15ml (1 tbsp)
  
• chicken breasts, 350-400g skinned and cubed
  
• garnishes
  • sultanas, 25g
    
  • fresh corriander, 15ml (1 tbsp)
    (note: there is also some corriander listed in ‘other flavourings’, above, making it a total of 4 tbsps of it required for this recipe)
  
  

• Blend the sauce ingredients
  • Process the following in a food processor for 1 minute: the apple, 3 tbsp of corriander, mint, yogurt, formage frias or ricotta, chillis, spring onions, salt, sugar, garlic and ginger. Scrape around the outside of the bowl and process for a few seconds more.
• Cooking the sauce and chicken
  • Heat the oil in a wok, karahi or large pan, pour in the yogurt mixture and cook, gently over a low heat for about 2 minutes.
    
  • Add the chicken pieces and stir well to blend everything together. Cook over a medium-low heat for 15-17 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
• Add garnishes.
  • Srinkle the sultanas and the remaining coriander over the chicken (do not mix in, but leave as a garnish).

Serve with Nut Pulao, if you like.

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I’ve modified the presentation of this recipe a little, and I've also changed a few of its details. I’ve found an increased cooking time necessary, so I’ve changed that from 12-15 minutes to 15-17 minutes. I also increased the amount of chicken from 225g to 350-400g, as I think the original recipe makes far too much sauce for the amount of chicken in it.