Recipe of the week: Chicken curry: A traditional take from India’s ‘palm-lined coast’

Chicken was not long ago an expensive and special treat in India, “reserved for festive occasions,” says Madhur Jaffrey in At Home With Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf). But the bird itself is native to the Indian subcontinent and has for centuries been an important ingredient in the region’s cuisine.

Tandoori chicken—chicken roasted in a clay oven—has been a national dish for a relatively short time: It “swooped down” from the northwest starting in the 1940s. But “traditional curries have retained their hold” at the heart of the culture’s cuisine. In western Goa, a curry is cooked with garlic, onion, and “a little bit of vinegar.” In Mumbai, apricots are featured. The chicken curry described here uses coconut milk, and thus “takes me back to the balmy southwest breezes of Kerala’s palm-lined coast.” Serve it with plain jasmine rice and a green vegetable, like the Swiss chard below.

Recipe of the week

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Kerala-Style Chicken Curry

3 tbsp olive or canola oil

½ tsp whole cumin seeds

½ tsp whole brown mustard seeds

1 small onion, cut in thin half-rings

2 tsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, chopped finely

2½ lbs chicken parts, skinned

½ tsp cayenne pepper, or more, if desired

1 tbsp bright red paprika

1 tsp salt

15–20 fresh curry leaves, if available, or 8 fresh basil leaves, torn up

1 cup coconut milk from a well-shaken can

3 or 4 whole bird’s-eye chiles (optional)

Put oil into a wide pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, add cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, add onions. Stir and fry until onions have browned lightly. Add ginger, garlic, chicken, cayenne, paprika, salt, and curry leaves. Stir for a minute. Add 1 cup water and bring to simmer. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring now and then. Boil down most of liquid. Add coconut milk and, if using, float chiles on top. Cook at medium-high heat, while stirring, for one minute.

Swiss Chard With Ginger and Garlic

1½ lbs Swiss chard, well washed

3 tbsp olive or canola oil

1 clove garlic, cut into long slivers

1 tsp slivered peeled fresh ginger

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Wash chard, leaving leaves damp. Starting at stem end, cut stems and leaves crossways, at ¼-inch intervals.

Pour oil into large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add garlic and ginger. Stir a few times. Add chard and cover. As soon as leaves have wilted, a matter of a few minutes, add salt and cayenne. Stir to mix. Cover again and turn heat to low. Cook 5 minutes or until chard is just done.