Spice is Nice: Chicken in Yoghurt

As an American of Polish and Irish descent, I never had curry when growing up. It wasn’t in my parents’ learned or acquired food culture. There were no Indian restaurants in my home town or the surrounding area. I enjoyed my first curry in my friend Virginie’s flat in Paris when I was in my early 20’s. She is of Mauritian and Irish descent, so it was a fiery dish indeed of chicken and potatoes.

Many other times in Paris I tasted curries from Vietnamese restaurant menus and appreciated their somewhat sweet and spicy flavour. But it wasn’t until I met ThermoHubby John and we moved here to England that I truly became aware of the incredible variety of Indian foods and spice combinations. Mild, medium or hot; sweet, sour or bitter; wet, dry or buttery; the choice is as endless as the number of regions and cooks.

John’s grandmother lived for a while in India in a British military family, so his mother used to make them curries from time to time. Thanks to being accustomed to curries at an early age and to part of our cookbook collection, John now makes a mean curry. But his curries are mostly dry curries, with delicious taste but not much sauce. I have developed a taste for saucy curries, and I am absolutely over the moon with this fast and easy Thermomix curry recipe.

Save time chopping and cooking

Making a curry “by hand” requires lots of chopping – and time – plus a lot of cooking time to meld the flavours into a homogenous, distinctive ensemble. With Thermomix and this recipe – reproduced from “Fast and Easy Indian Cooking,” a comprehensive and varied collection of recipes by Independent Thermomix Demonstrator Rosie Laljee and UK Thermomix Director Janie Turner– anyone can easily make good quality Indian food at home. Thermomix saves so much time, not only in chopping but also in cooking. The Thermomix bowl is a closed container and therefore not only keeps the heat inside, but the thermostatically controlled temperatures ensure even, steady cooking to an extent not achievable on a hob or stovetop. The unique stirring action of the Thermomix blade decreases cooking times by getting all the ingredients in turn to come into contact with the heating plate. I call it “3-dimensional stirring” and it really makes Indian cooking achievable at home.

Thermomix’s Reverse Blade Function makes it possible to cook and stir this dish without blending the chicken into a mush, too. You start with pieces of chicken and you end up with pieces of chicken. This works with other meats in stews and curries as well as things like Bolognese sauce, and also with my fave Thermomix risotto.

Faster than reheating a ready meal

Now think about this: your basic Indian ready meal usually requires 45 minutes in a pre-heated oven, and it takes a good ten minutes to pre-heat most ovens. We’re talking about close to an hour to end up with a reheated, industrially-produced meal that will undoubtedly have additives and preservatives to increase shelf life. In contrast, this incredibly tasty recipe, made in the Thermomix with wonderful fresh ingredients and no additives, requires just 33 minutes (and 10 seconds) to prepare. To my mind, it’s a no-brainer. Fast and easy cooking with Thermomix wins hands down!

Madame Thermomix’s tips:

1. For the absolute freshest, tastiest curry, start by grinding your own fresh spices in a dry Thermomix bowl. You’ll probably need at least twice the volume of whole spices to get the required amount of ground spices, so grind up a bit more than you need, reserve the amount needed here, and keep the rest in a sterilised jar for your next recipe.
2. Steam some basmati rice in your Thermomix to serve with your curry while you’re cutting up your chicken and getting your ingredients ready. It only takes 20 minutes to get perfect rice every time!
3. It’s fast and easy to peel garlic in the Thermomix so once you’ve ground your spices, go straight into peeling the garlic.
4. This recipe calls for skinless, boneless chicken, but I used a traditional cut of chicken on the bone which I got at my local ethnic food store. They assured me that this is what they used at home. It was less expensive than what I could have purchased at the supermarket and the bones lent added taste to the finished dish. Thermomix cooked the chicken so perfectly, it fell off the bones, too. Do proceed with caution, however, as bones are a choking hazard.

Thermomix Chicken in Yoghurt
 I have to agree with Janie Turner when she says that “this recipe on its own justifies buying ‘Fast and Easy Indian Cooking’. It is simple, fast, healthy and it tastes wonderful. Serves 4 with rice or bread and a vegetable or two. To serve 8 just double the amount of chicken.”  (Yes, this is one saucy curry, so there’s plenty of sauce for four people or even eight!)

Ingredients
10 g garlic cloves, peeled
40 g oil
150 g onions, peeled and quartered
2 fresh green chillies, tops removed
20 g ginger, sliced along the lines on the skin into 2 mm “coins”
10 g fresh coriander (dhania)
2 tsp ground cumin (jeera)
2 tsp ground coriander (dhania)
½ tsp turmeric (haldi)
1 tsp salt
100 g water
500 g skinless boneless chicken, cut into 2 to 3 cm pieces
70 g tomato purée
500 g greek-style yoghurt

Method

1. Peel garlic in your Thermomix if desired, set aside. Heat the oil 1 minute/Varoma setting/Speed 1. Add onions, chillies, ginger, fresh coriander and garlic. Mince 10 seconds/Speed 5.
2. Scrape down the sides and lid of the Thermomix bowl with the spatula. Cook 5 minutes/Varoma setting/Speed 2/Measuring Cup OFF (to let excess steam escape and yield a better sauté).
3. Add dry spices and salt. Cook 3 minutes Varoma setting/Speed 2/Measuring Cup ON.
4. Add the water. Cook 5 minutes/Varoma setting/Speed 1.
5. Add chicken, tomato purée and yoghurt. Cook 20 minutes/100° C/Speed Spoon/Reverse Blade Direction. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Janie Turner’s tip: When it is perfectly cooked, there will be a lovely sheen of oil on the surface.

That’s it! It couldn’t be faster or easier to make your own curry with Thermomix.

Bon appétit !

Supplement your Thermomix cookbook collection and jazz up your meals with “Fast and Easy Indian Cooking,” available for £19.95 from UK Thermomix.

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