Simple Chicken Curry

The basic recipe. Preferably use a non-stick pan to cook this, so the masala does not stick to the pan. Makes a huge difference.

Ingredients

• Chicken - 1 kilo
• Ginger garlic paste, 2 tablespoons
• Curd - 2 tablespoons
• Onions - 3. Chop into fine pieces.
• Tomatoes - 2 big ones. Chop into small pieces.
• Clove, Cinnamon, bay leaf: a few pieces
• Red chilly powder: 1 teaspoon
• Pepper - a few corns
• Some coriander leaves

 Procedure

1. Marinate chicken in some ginger garlic paste, some curd, and a teaspoon of salt. Either for a few hours or overnight in the fridge, not freezer. The curd tenderizes the chicken.
2. Fry the chopped onion in a non-stick pan until brown. Sprinkle some salt if you want it to brown faster.
3. Add some pieces of clove, 2 sticks of cinnamon, and a couple of bay leaves if you have. Stir for a minute until you can feel the smell of spices coming out, they should not burn.
4. Add the red chilly powder and few crushed pepper corns. Pepper corns is according to your taste, you can add more later after you have checked the taste. Stir for a few seconds - don't leave chilly powder in too long, it will burn.
5. Add the marinated chicken and stir and cook until the water is gone and the chicken starts to brown. The masala would have coated the chicken well now. You can get the smell of the ginger garlic paste frying. The chicken will be half-cooked at the end of this.
6. Add the chopped tomato now and stir and cook. The tomato gives the gravy to the dish. Once the tomato is cooked nicely check salt and add more if needed. Add more pepper at this stage if you want it hotter.
7. Add a little water if you want more gravy, but not too much.
8. To check if chicken has cooked, use a fork and take out a piece and taste - it will be white inside and breaks easily.
9. Switch off and add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well.