Fennel Chicken Curry Recipe
Your oral and olfactory senses will be excited when you tuck into this British Indian Restaurant (BIR) style dish.
The anise and slight licourice flavours of fennel seeds, supported by other robust spices, float to the top of the palate and give a glorious experience in the mouth, and a delightful aftertaste.
You can make this curry with any main ingredient, but I think it goes very well with chicken, either in it’s regular or tikka form.
This recipe will feed 1-2 people. Please go ahead and pimp it up with chilli if you’re a lover of heat.
Books by Richard Sayce
INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 TBSP (45-60ml) Oil
- 1½ tsp Fennel Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 Green Cardamon Pods, split open
- 1 tsp Nigella Seeds (aka Kalonji) – optional
- 2-3 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste
- 1½ tsp Mix Powder
- ½ tsp Chilli Powder (or to taste)
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ¼-½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Kasuri Methi
- 330ml+ Base Gravy
- 4-5 TBSP Tomato Paste
- 2 tsp Fennel Powder (freshly ground seeds are best, but bought in powder will suffice)
- 1 TBSP fresh Coriander Stalks (if you have any), finely chopped
- The Main Ingredient (chicken works well with fennel)
- 2 tsp Lime or Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Sugar
- A sprinkle of fresh Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
METHOD
- Grind enough fennel seeds for the 2 tsp of powder required for this recipe. Use an electric grinder or pestle & mortar.
- Add the oil to a frying pan, korai, or wok on medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, green cardamom pods, and optionally the nigella seeds.
- Fry for approximately 15-20 seconds, stirring diligently.
- Remove the cooking vessel temporarily, and after 10 seconds add the ginger/garlic paste. Be careful that the hot oil doesn’t cause the paste to burn.
- Put it back on the hob and cook for 15-20 seconds, or until the ginger and garlic start to brown.
- Now add the mix powder, chilli powder, paprika, salt, and kasuri methi. Pour in a splash (e.g. 30ml) of base gravy to help prevent the spices from burning and to allow enough time for them to fry properly. Cook for 20-30 seconds, stirring with gusto.
- Add the tomato paste, the fennel powder, the sugar, and the coriander stalks. Turn up the heat to high, mix together, then let cook until you see signs of floating oil and tiny dry craters forming at the edges of the pan.
- Next add the main ingredient. If you’re using raw chicken, coat the pieces well to help the meat not to dry out.
- Add 75ml of base gravy, stir everything together well, and leave on high heat for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan from time to time to avoid burning. There will be a lot of caramelisation.
- Pour in a second 75ml of base gravy, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan once when first added, and leave to cook down for approximately another 30-45 seconds.
- Now add 150ml of base gravy and the lemon juice. Stir together once more,
- Leave to cook on high heat for 4-5 minutes, or until the desired consistency is reached. Add more base gravy as required during cooking. Avoid stirring unless showing signs of imminently burning (important for the best flavour).
- Sprinkle in some chopped coriander leaves, taste the curry, and and adjust seasoning if desired.
- Serve, garnished with a wedge of lime or lemon, and a sprinkling of coriander leaves on top.
NOTES
- Search deep and hard for those green cardamom pods in the curry and fish them out when done cooking. Or… risk the random (yet sometimes pleasant) experience of having the mouthfeel of the pods, and the intense flavour of cardamom.
- Much more insights and useful cooking tips for cooking BIR style curries are in my Curry Compendium and Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volume 1 cookbooks.
- All spoon measurements are level (1 tsp = 5ml, 1 TBSP = 15ml).
- As with all my restaurant style curry recipes, the base gravy should be added hot when cooking with it. Make sure it’s about the consistency of semi-skimmed milk by diluting with water beforehand (if needed).
- The amounts of base gravy stated in the recipe are for the diluted version. Please feel free to add extra base to the curry if you like more sauce.
- I hope you enjoy this fennel chicken curry recipe. Please visit the Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen YouTube Channel for lots of Indian recipe videos.
