Recipe: Chicken Korma with Sweet Potatoes

I love Korma. I have made it at home a lot, but always with the help of a pre-packaged jar of yellow goop that I doctor up to my liking. This is sad when you consider my collection of spices. So, in honor of buying a pantry and finally unpacking my dry goods and spices, I decided to make my own Murgh Shahi Korma from scratch.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1/4 C. Cashews

2 tbs pureed ginger

6 cloves of garlic (minced)

1/4 C. water

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces)

1/4 cup melted butter (or ghee, if you're awesome)

6 cardamom pods*

6 whole cloves*

1 cinnamon stick*

1 sweet onion, finely chopped

6 oz plain Greek style yogurt

1 12 oz can of coconut milk

1 Sweet Potato cut into chunks

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbs Garam Masala

a nice sized pinch of saffron

1 tsp of ground coriander

Rice (I used short grain, but Jasmine rice or Basmati are probably the preferred choices of the masses)



Don't get scared looking at that list! This meal is actually a one pot meal. Well... two if you include the rice. It looks daunting, but trust me, it's not a hard recipe.



Cinnamon, cloves and cardamom pods! Oh my!


I'm just mad about saffron...


Some good lookin' sweet potatoes




INSTRUCTIONS:

Grind the cashews, garlic, ginger puree and water in a food processor until thick. Pour this gravy into a plastic bag with the chicken, making sure you squish it all up good. Put it the fridge and let it marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.


Before


After



Pour the melted butter into a large skillet over medium heat. Toast the cloves, 1/2 of the cinnamon stick, and cardamom in the butter for about 30 seconds. Add the chopped onion and sautee until just brown.



Yummy...



Add the chicken and marinade and brown it for about five minutes or so.



In a measuring cup, combine 6 oz of yogurt with 4 oz of coconut milk (leave the other 8 oz of coconut milk aside. You'll be using it). Pour it in the skillet and stir everything up.


i see you there, cinnamon stick!

Just as the pot begins to bubble, reduce heat to a simmer, throw in you sweet potato chunks, saffron and coriander*, salt and pepper, stir it all up, and cover the skillet. Allow this to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes. If your gravy looks too thick, don't be afraid to add a little water.


i wish you could've smelled my kitchen by this point.


While your chicken is cooking, mix the 8 oz of leftover coconut milk with 8 oz of water in a pot. Bring it to a boil and add 1 cup of rice and the other half of your cinnamon stick. Lower heat and cook rice until all the liquid is absorbed (about 20-25 minutes or so).


RICE!

Just before serving, throw the garam masala in to the chicken and stir it in. Serve the chicken over the rice and garnish with ground cashews.




Enjoy!!


*If you're using ground spices instead of whole spices, skip toasting them and throw them in when you are browning your onions. You can also add your coriander and saffron at this time, most likely. They were sort of an afterthought as I was making this dish, so they went in later. No harm done.