Recipe: Braised chicken in ghee sauce

In his new book The Curry Guy BBQ, Dan Toombs, a.k.a. The Curry Guy, fires things up and shares Indian dishes that can be prepared on the barbecue or grill. For your upcoming BBQ, try this braised chicken in ghee sauce. And conveniently: in addition to recipes, Dan also shows you how to make delicious sauces, spicy chutneys, marinades and rubs so you can expand your barbecue repertoire and serve the tastiest Indian dishes at the table.

Dan: “South Indian dishes in a ghee sauce are fantastic! Don’t be put off by the amount of ghee. After all, it is a sauce made with ghee, and sometimes you simply have to enjoy the better things in life. You can replace the chicken with paneer, prawns or a vegetable, such as cauliflower or broccoli. Does that sound good to you? Then use that.”

How to make braised chicken in ghee sauce

• Place the chicken in a mixing bowl with the lemon juice, garlic­-ginger paste, turmeric powder, Kashmiri chilli powder and yoghurt, and mix everything together well with your hands. Leave to marinate while you make the curry paste.
• Toast the dried chillies in a dry frying pan over medium heat, stirring regularly, until their aroma is released. The chillies should soften, not burn.
• Add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and fenugreek seeds and toast until their aroma is released and the seeds feel warm but are not smoking. Leave to cool on a plate.
• Grind the chillies and spices in a spice grinder or food processor until finely powdered. Add the tamarind pulp or ­paste, the garlic and enough water to create a deep-red paste. The curry paste should be fairly thick, but if your paste is quite runny, simply cook it for a little longer.
• Heat a frying pan with high sides, wok or karahi (a type of wok) over high heat and heat 5 tablespoons of the ghee. Add the chicken pieces, stir until they are coated with ghee and no marinade sticks to the pan. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is almost cooked and the juices released from the chicken have formed a sauce.
• Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate and add the curry paste to the pan. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, continuing to stir so the sauce thickens without burning. Then stir in the remaining ghee.
• Add the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan and stir through the sauce. Keep stirring until the sauce clings to the chicken. Stir in the curry leaves. Season with salt and the sugar, garnish with the garam masala and serve.

Title: The Curry Guy BBQ
Author: Dan Toombs
Price: €23,50
Publisher: GoodCook

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