Nigel Slater's Chicken Curry

My sweets, I have a confession to make. My name is Luisa and last weekend, I used commercial curry powder.

Yes. I know. I know that that stuff is to be shunned, that really we should all be making our own masala spice mixtures, that the whole concept of chicken curry is colonialistic and ignorant of a huge country's varied cuisines. I know. But.

Have you ever made Nigel Slater's "Chicken with Spices and Cream" from Real Fast Food? (Sneaky guy, see how he evades the whole concept of "chicken curry" entirely with that recipe title?)

Because I sort of semi-guarantee that if you do make it, you will find yourself looking at your abominable jar of curry powder with entirely different eyes. One of my dinner guests, a lady who is newly pregnant with twins and also an expert on Things That Taste Good, threatened to return to my house the next day to eat the remaining sauce (the recipe makes a lot of sauce, for which you will be very grateful).

(I didn't tell her that I would barricade the doors if she dared to do so, because I had a hot date with the leftover sauce myself that would and could not be missed.)

(I blame my greed entirely on the baby. Entirely.)

Perhaps you see where this is going: Authenticity be damned. (The horror!)

Now that we've gotten beyond the whole curry powder thing, let me tell you about this recipe. It's brilliant. First of all, it takes no time to make. And second of all, it is so good. (Are these two sentences the two most over-used sentences on this entire blog-thingy? My apologies. But at least my priorities are clear, yes?) Third of all, or second-of-all's addendum: Despite the curry powder and the recipe's simplicity, this chicken with spices and cream really does taste like Indian food which, for those of us stranded in this wonderful city that has so much to offer but is entirely bereft of good Indian food (ENTIRELY BEREFT AND I AM NOT EXAGGERATING, BEHOLD THE ALL CAPS), is a bleeding godsend.

I love making this recipe on weeknights, but also for dinner parties, because you can make it an hour or two in advance and then simply reheat the pan when your guests arrive, and also because it's the kind of thing that you can make almost with your eyes closed, which is my Dinner Party Modus Operandi.

You can tailor the recipe to your taste by adding a good shake or two of cayenne, for example, if you like things spicier (though the curry powder will probably have a bit of heat, too), dumping a few cupfuls of frozen peas into the mix shortly before the end of the cooking time or sprinkling chopped cilantro on top for a bit more authenticity.

As I said earlier, the recipe makes an enormous amount of sauce, but it is mind-bendingly delicious, all flecked with shreds of tomato and meltingly soft onions and it's silky with cream, but not heavy, if that's what you're wondering. Pregnant or not, it makes a rather wonderful lunch heated up and poured over leftover rice the next day.

Lest any of you get the wrong idea, let me just say that I own several Indian cookbooks, have a freezer stocked with curry leaves and ground cumin, that my father regularly offers to bring over dried mango powder and asafoetida when he comes to visit and that I normally would be the last person to recommend a recipe that to me, at least, seems like the Indian equivalent of using jarred tomato sauce in an Italian lasagne.

But this just tastes so good. Okay? It's my only defense.

Nigel Slater's Chicken Curry
Serves 4

4 chicken pieces, breast halves or thighs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder, from a recently opened jar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I used canned tomatoes, seeds and all)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Rub salt and pepper into chicken. Heat butter and oil in a shallow pan, add the chicken and cook until the skin is golden. Turn and add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft, about 7 to 8 minutes. Stir every once in a while.

2. Stir in the curry powder and cinnamon. Cook for 4 minutes, until the spices are cooked. Add tomatoes and stock, then simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked right through, about 15 minutes.

3. Stir in the cream and taste the sauce, adjusting salt and pepper, if needed. Add the lemon juice. Simmer for 1 minute, then serve hot with basmati rice.

Comments

[Kathryn]

Of course it tastes amazing, it's a Nigel Slater recipe! I love proper Indian food as much as the next person (so long as the next person is someone who loves it a lot) but sometimes I just crave the simplicity of a plain old curry and this looks like it would really hit the spot.

[Magda]

OK, I believe you. I have tried this recipe and I love it.
Nigel Slater, as I like to say, rules!

[Toffeeapple]

I have never had a Nigel recipe go wrong, ever.

[AllieIsSuperAwesome]

This sounds fantastic! I must try it! I've recently discovered coconut rice (basmati rice cooked with a can of coconut milk, a cup of water and a little minced garlic) and it was a revelation. I'm always searching for recipes for sauce/veggies/meat to serve with it. This sounds like the perfect one! :)

[jonquil]

Yum!

[Naomi]

So, out of curiosity, is this recipe good enough that if I didn't have curry powder in the house, I ought to go out and buy some? I believe you that it's good, you've never led me astray yet and it's Nigel Slater. The thought of all that sauce with rice for lunch may be the convincer, though!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone spots the lack of good Indian restaurants and brings one your way.

[Alexandra]

Thank you for posting this! I have a half full container of cream forlornly sitting in my fridge, waiting to be useful. I am making this for dinner, ohne chicken, probably with some chopped up potato, carrot, mushroom, and peas. Mmmm Mmmm good.

[Nuts about food]

I have all the different leaves and spices in my cupboard but I bet you all of us have a jar of curry powder sitting in our kitchens. I know I do.

[Maureen]

Easy always gets my attention and when someone says it's good enough to invite guests over - then it's something I must have. Looks very good!

[Sharmila]

My mom, grandmom, aunts, cousins, several friends, their moms, all as Indian as can be, use some form of curry powder in their food. Don't believe anyone who tells you that they use 100% freshly prepared spice mixes 100% of the time. Unless they are in the business of food, or recently discovered Indian food, they are lying.
Don't get me wrong, of course a freshly ground spice mix is going to taste loads better than any pre-made mix powder, but it comes down to convenience. My mother raised three kids & looked after an aging mother-in-law while her husband travelled for work. She didn't have the time nor help to grind her own spices every day, and this was over twenty years ago. What modern Indian woman do you suppose has that kind of time now?!
Certain types of dishes require specific spice mixes. But if all you are after is something that tastes good, you don't have to worry about specifics. Buy decent 'curry powder' to begin with. While there are many spice mixes that qualify under this odd generic, the packet marked 'garam masala' at your local Indian store is a great bet. Probably fresher and cheaper than the grocery store bottle. Store it in your fridge while you use it up, four to six months.
If any food snob judges you, don't share your delicious chicken with them. Let them fill up on that rarified air they live in.

[Hee-Sun]

Hi Luisa (or anyone else who has tried this recipe),

How essential is the tablespoon of peanut oil to this recipe? I would love to make it this week--I believe you, Luisa!--but not if the lack of peanut oil will make an outstanding difference in the final product.

Thanks!

[charlotte au chocolat]

I make a similar dish, without tomatoes/cream, and with lots of raisins and cilantro, and I use bone-in chicken, that I let simmer in the sauce for 1 1/2- 2 hours until the meat is almost falling off the bone. I doubt it's very "authentic", but it's one of the best things I make, and so easy, and it's also my default position for entertaining. I think I'll make your version tonight, with boneless turkey thighs I brought home yesterday.

[olga]

ha, funny, i was literally just looking at the chicken thighs in the fridge wondering what new thing to do with them. i actually have all the ingredients (including the curry, i know, horrible, right?) and this just might be THE thing because I really don't have time 5 days pre book to be even thinking about making dinner. i deserve a cookie for that don't you think? thanks for rescuing my weeknight cooking dilemma!

[kickpleat]

I love your description and it's totally how I would describe something! This actually sounds a lot like my totally inauthentic and wildly faux "butter chicken" which substitutes greek yogurt for the cream and more masala spices. I'm sure the cream makes this unbelievable. And yes to lots of sauce!

[Kate @ Savour Fare]

I just bought that cookbook and already adore it. How could you NOT love a cookbook that gives you a recipe for a chip buttie? And advises you to use plasticky white bread for it? This chicken is quickly going to the top of of list. I highly recommend the chicken chili pitas, and I've grown quite addicted to the stir fried bacon and cabbage.

[Delyth@thedelicious]

I think that this is a perfect example of why everyone loves Nigel Slater so much. He makes no excuses for not being a food snob, even though he is classically trained. He admits to loving junk food and smarties,(for example) and will happily include childhood favouries from the UK in his cooking repertoire. When I was growing up in Britain, this is how everyone made curry, even in cookery lessons in school, which also included raisins and chopped apple.

[Sonja]

I come from Scandinavia where everybody buys ready-made curry paste for their curries, so when I recently moved to France I was very confused by the fact that everybody uses curry powder whenever they're cooking "asian". But this recipe sounds so delicious that I will now finally have to overcome my suspicions against that poor powder. I can't wait to try this!

[Luisa]

Naomi - Yes!

Sharmila - thank you for your wonderful comment and reassurance! :)

Hee-Sun - use whatever vegetable oil you like.

Olga - Have a good dinner, dear!

[ileana]

As long as it tastes good! I've never made a curry, but you make this one sound great - and easy!

[erin @ from city to farm]

Oh, bless you. BLESS YOU!!!

I too, now live in an area with no Indian or Asian food of any kind, and the grocery carries nothing. Like, no-thi-ng! For Asian, all they have is fried noodles, blah. And they have NO Indian anything...well, except chickpeas. ;)

So all of the truly authentic recipes make me drool, but unless I can order it from Amazon or grow it myself, it's not going to happen.

Thanks to you, I'm having chicken curry for dinner. And I love you for it. Now I just need to dig up a good naan recipe!

[Stephanie]

Luisa, this recipe perfectly matches my new year's resolution (somewhat imposed by dish-washing husband): to make less complicated food that still tastes like it took hours of loving dedication.

Thank you for adding to my repertoire. (:

[kathleen]

I am definitely making this! This week!
And CONGRATULATIONS on your baby news...somehow I completely missed that cabbage soup post! Wishing you a wonderful happy healthy pregnancy!

[Lauren]

Hello there! Quick question, but did you remove the chicken from the pan while cooking the onions, or just leave it in the whole time? Hoping to make this soon- it looks delectable!

[Deanna]

No judgement here. I love authentic Indian food, but sometimes I get crazy cravings for the curry my mom and grandma made when I was little. Its curry from the jar, and the condiments! Toasted coconut, peanuts, chutney, cilantro, raisins, etc. I know its not authentic, but I love it just the same.

[Selkie]

I clicked on the baby link eagerly anticipating a baby bump pic! My 28 yr old son is with bebe due July, my first grandchild, and I SO LOVE the pics of the baby bump, always it seems with gorgeous hands.... A great joy. I think of you often, somehow... a part of the few who came forward with new babies about the same time, in my life... Blessings.

[Anna @ the shady pine]

Love it! Cooking in the real world where no one cooks from scratch 100% of the time. Food guilt be gone I say! This chicken looks and sounds fabulous and I can't wait to try the recipe.

[kelly]

wow this is great I hope i can make it on time. hope it will be easy of me.

[Luisa]

Kathleen - thank you!

Lauren - left the chicken in the pan while I cooked the onions, took a little dedicated stirring but it was fine.

Selkie - congrats on your impending grandmotherhood!

[Francesca]

Brilliant! You can't go wrong with Nigel Slater. Have you tried the 'hot potato and sausage salad' in his 30 minute meals? It's potatoes boiled with water, butter and a chicken stock cube (served with fried sausages) and it's amazing. It initially gave me much the same guilt factor as the curry powder did for you, but he actually tells you not to use proper chicken stock, and when something tastes so good, it's impossible to argue :-)

[ilva]

You have convinced me, I have now bought chicken and curry powder and am all ready to make this tonight!

[Victoria]

I made this for dinner last night. You are right; it is delicious. I am going to call it Luisa's Raj Curry. You must be very disciplined; we ate A LOT of the sauce. This is a good one - a real keeper! And it made the kitchen smell so good. Luisa, the addition of cinnamon is fabulous, and the sauce is so flavorful that plain basmati rice is perfect with it. I think next time I will serve hot buttered peas, for taste and color.

Because I love the way meatballs lap up sauce, I think I am going to try making chicken meatballs and using this sauce. I will do 1 pound of ground chicken (preferably dark meat), 1 beaten egg, a few dry breadcrumbs, salt and pepper; shape them into walnut size meatballs; roll them in Wondra flour that has a teeny bit of cayenne pepper mixed it; fry them lightly, and cook in the sauce. I will let you know how it turns out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for another wonderful recipe. You know I love your spaghetti with ricotta, which you embedded in another recipe, and those marvelous rice-stuffed tomatoes, which I make the second fabulous tomatoes are available. And so many more..........

I am not at all ashamed to admit that I always have curry powder in the house. I make a recipe for lamb curry that I found in the 1964 Joy of Cooking, specifically for using up leftover lamb. So whenever I make a leg of lamb, I know that the next day I am going to have a very fragrant, very good, very fake lamb curry.

(The parade for the Giants is going on right outside my office at Broadway and Wall. What noise. And I'm on the 20th floor with closed windows.)

Stay well; be happy; please keeping cooking.

[Christine]

Bah, spices whether from a jar premixed or not are still just spices. For what it's worth, my favorite use of jarred curry powder is in the Chinese American restaurant standard, Singapore Mei Fun (also "Singapore Curry Noodles.")

It is good and VERY easy to make at home, nixing some of the meat variety since I am lazy and am not about to cut up three different animals for some noodles. http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/08/30/singapore-rice-noodles-tradition-and-innovation/

[Leslie]

Luisa, I know you are a cookbook editor and author, so you may feel you have to acknowledge certain standards and do's and do not's, but we aren't! No need to apologize to us about curry powder or anything else! I think that authentic cooking, especially home cooking, is about making do and about evolution.

I think our parents' generation, especially those who emigrated and immigrated, did a lot of making do.

My family's now-traditional recipe for Chinese New Year's pot stickers contains shredded zucchini instead of napa cabbage, simply because my Chinese grandma couldn't find napa cabbage upon arriving in California in the early 80's, and the substitution stuck.

My father makes Taiwanese curried chicken legs for every American potluck he attends and they always disappear rapidly. He uses McCormick Shilling canned curry powder from the grocery store.

My friend's mother, who moved from India to the US, was ecstatic when Trader Joe's started selling naan. She explained to me that she had only been making it herself because she had no other choice, not because it was authentic.

But of course it is fun to work with authentic ingredients when you can. On that note, if there is no asafoetida over in Charlottenburg, come visit us in Friedrichshain anytime. The Jung-Shop on Jungstraße, a sort of Späti-meets-Indian-grocery, recently expanded their spice section. :)

[Charlotte]

I have to make this as you make it sound so delicious. My only sadness is that mine won't be flecked with tomato as a concession to my husband who cannot eat tomatoes (sob!).

[Clara]

Hi Luisa,

May I ask what brand of curry powder you used? It seems that since curry powder is the essential ingredient, different powders might produce vastly different results. Totally not a snob but I once had a bad experience with curry powder that had tons of cinnamon-cringe. I'd really love to try your flavourful version for a dinner party this weekend! Thanks.

[Luisa]

Victoria - xo!

Leslie - thank you for the encouragement and the spice shop tip!! Brilliant.

Charlotte - you have my condolences... ;)

Clara - I used a German organic curry powder that I bought at a health food store here... It was nothing special, really.

[Tracy Holroyd-Smith]

Luisa, thank you for your comments on Berlin being bereft of good Indian restaurants! I live not far from you in Charlottenburg, Berlin, and being British, am used to a very high level of Indian cuisine.... Oh how I miss it here! However, on recent trip home, I found some excellent curry powders from Seasoned Pioneers. Check their website out, it's really good! I do have a couple of questions for you - where do you get your 'heavy cream' from? What is it called in German? Also, do you happen to know of anywhere in this fair city which sells ready made Naan breads? In Britain you can buy them in most local shops, but not here.... I miss them when I make curries! :-)

[Eleanor]

I second Francesca's recommendation of Nigel's 'The 30-Minute Cook'. I've got all of his books, but the pages of this one are the most grease-spattered by far ...

Like Tracy I too am a fan of the Seasoned Pioneers spice blends. Their Rose Petal Masala is gorgeous!

[Elizabeth in Paris]

Hello Luisa,

First of all, congratulations on your baby! And secondly, a profound thanks for the Chicken Curry recipe! I made it last night, and it was very, very good! I moved to Paris a few months ago, and have been craving some "spicy" food, which is almost unheard of here. My taste buds thank you!

[KarenL]

Love your blog. I plan to make that articoke / polenta dish on Friday!

[Alexandra]

Luisa,
Just a heads up that I made this in a veg version (potatoes-carrots-mushrooms-peas/veg bouillion). It was PERFECT. Plus, since I cook for just me, I've got enough to last me till Friday. Ha!

I used a "chana masala" curry mix that I smuggled back with me from Delhi, but it has the unctuousness of the Indian food I loved in the UK.

So nice to know that I have a quick and easy curry to turn to should I need to feed a crowd!

[Luisa]

Tracy - I just use Schlagsahne, available at any grocery store. I don't know of any place to buy na'an, but if I find out, I'll let you know!

Elizabeth - you're welcome and thank you!! :)

[Kelley]

Thank you! My husband basically inhaled this!

[jif]

Luisa - Hamburg too is bereft and I have been having such a craving lately (no baby to blame) and this toooootally hit the spot. Eating the leftovers now! Yuuuummmmmm!

[Charlotte]

Luisa - this was delicious even without the tomatoes (yah!). And I took your excellent suggestion and had for dinner last night leftover sauce over leftover rice - yum. My husband took all the leftovers for his lunch yesterday and apparently the aromas had all his coworkers drooling. I doubled the recipe but used a bit less curry powder (I ran out but also for my husband's gerd tummy) but added a bit of garam masala. Thanks!

[Suzy]

You think of that woman as a lady...interesting : )

[Eve Fox]

Yum! Made this for dinner tonight and am psyched to have leftovers tomorrow - I'm betting the flavors just improve with time, too. Thanks!

[Hande]

made an adaptation on friday and happy to report it was great, too: no chicken, but red lentils! Followed recipe, just omitted chicken, added red lentils when adding the tomatoes (canned) and chicken stock (tripled in amount, to account for the lentils soaking it plus a more stew kinda dish). awesome easy curry!