One of my family's favorite cuisines is Indian.  We love this exotic Indian chicken curry made from scratch.  Since I was young, I used to love playing around with the various spices and experiment with the tastes and flavors of various combinations of spices.  As an adult, I decided to do my own research behind this ancient cuisine and was so facinated with my findings.

Although the flavor of Indian food is absolutely delicious, I find that the dishes are a little too oily and somewhat overcooked for my taste.  I spoke to an Indian friend about it and she said that "that is Indian food."  I realized that there may have been a reason for well cooked food...sanitary conditions in India.  But here in the US, cooking curries either in a pressure cooker or for a long time is not necessary.  I like my chicken tender with the flavor infused as a result of marinating the chicken rather than a long, stewing process.

Health benefits of Indian spices

On my various trips to India, I noticed many older people exercising and walking for miles.  I believe that the cuisine, in particular the spices had something to do with it. Tumeric and chili is used in almost every dish, including rinsing raw meat.  The Indians believe that tumeric is a panacea for all ailments.  Today in the western world, tumeric is gaining popularity and known to have many health benefits, from anti-inflamatory and antiseptic properties to reducing memory loss.  What is even more interesting is the combination of tumeric and black pepper that is needed to allow our bodies to fully absorb the benefits of tumeric, the two ingredients that is commonplace in Indian cuisine. This exotic Indian chicken curry has a multitude of healthy spices!

Tips for making Exotic Indian chicken curry.

Chicken.

For this exotic Indian chicken curry, I prefer using skinless chicken thighs with the bone. Cut the thighs into large chunks around the bone.  Cooking the thigh bones impart additional flavor to the curry.  You can use a whole chicken and cut it up into pieces, but the tenderness of the white and dark pieces varies noticeably!

Marinade.

This Indian chicken curry marinade requires a few spices and 2% or 5% yoghurt. Fage yoghurt has a 5% milkfat which provides a delicious, rich sauce without the need for butter!  The yoghurt not only provides richness to the dish but also helps tenderize the chicken. The most important spices besides the salt and black pepper are the tumeric, coriander and cumin.  The other spices provide a complex and exotic flavor to the dish when roasted, blended and simmered together.

Whole spices.

The whole spices do permeate the chicken gravy.  They are not meant to be eaten. Fresh curry leaves can be obtained in an ethnic (Indian) grocery store.  These are optional but they do give the curry a unique flavor and aroma.   If you do purchase a bunch,  rinse and dry the leaves and freeze them in a freezer bag for future use.

Vegetables.

This exotic Indian chicken curry has tomatoes and onions that form the sauce and potatoes and petit pois.  The potatoes are cut into 2" cubes.  If you use baking potatoes for this dish, the potatoes will tend to break down easily.  This will aid in thickening the gravy naturally while losing the integrity of the potato.  Therefore, whatever potato is used is personal preference.

I use roma tomatoes as these tomatoes tend to be less juicy which results in a thicker sauce since the liquid will be coming primarily from the fresh tomato sauce.

Frozen petit pois (peas) are recommended.  These are usually a little more expensive but tend not to be pasty and mushy as regular frozen peas! (Well worth the extra cost.)

Exotic Indian chicken curry accompaniments

Curry is usually served with either a rice or an Indian flatbread like roti or sourdough naan.  For a fruity contrast, a chutney can be used.  If the curry is too spicy, yoghurt raita can be used to lower the heat level.