Hold the Coriander! Peppery Chicken Curry

Apart from the glossy magazines that litter my living room, there are also the half-pages of recipes neatly cut from newspapers and their Sunday supplements.  And at the risk of sounding like an old-timer, haven't newspaper photos come a long way - they are now in colour and in some instances, quite appealing.

This recipe for a Peppery Chicken Curry was found in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living section, and it joined the other cutouts I've collected over the years.  However, after seeing Almost Bourdain's gorgeous version of it, I just had to promote it to the front of the queue.

The 'curry' is non-creamy and uses onions, cooked to a paste, as a base.  I chopped up some chicken thigh cutlets (with bone and skin on), instead of the chicken pieces that the recipe originally called for.  I also changed some of the ingredients to match what I had on hand at the time.  And I left out the coriander garnish because I can't stand the stuff...

Peppery Chicken Curry

serves 2

Ingredients

2 chicken thigh cutlets, approx 400g, chopped into 2.5cm (1") pieces

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tblsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Pinch of saffron

2 tsp ground black peppercorns

2 onions

2 tblsp vegetable oil

Steamed rice, to serve

Method

1.  Mix together the garlic, ginger, salt, vinegar, turmeric, saffron and 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns.  Spread over the chicken in a shallow bowl and leave to marinate.

2.  Peel and chop one onion.  Place the onion in a food processor and blend to a paste.  Slice the remaining onion and set aside

3.  Heat the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan.  Add sliced onion and 1 teaspoon of pepper and cook for 10 minutes, until golden.  Add onion paste and cook over low heat for 10 minutes until golden brown.

4.  Add chicken and marinade and cook, stirring to coat all sides and brown the meat.

5.  Add 150 ml of water, bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, until the chicken is tender.

6.  Serve the chicken with rice, and with extra ground black pepper.

Recipe adapted from Sydney Morning Herald (15th June 2010)

Ingredients; mixed to a vibrant turmeric and saffron-y paste; the onions are chopped, then also processed into a paste

The resulting curry, fragrant with the spices and onion paste, is served with rice...

...and extra black pepper

(but no coriander, never coriander...)