Smoker

How to cook… Achari Chicken

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Achari Chicken is for lovers of pickling spices. Take a good serving of the Base Curry Sauce, add some chicken, a bit of garlic and a sprinkle of spice for a great medium-strength curry. Just with salty, tangy pickles.

What you need…
• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 600ml Base Curry Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons tomato ketchup
• small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
• 2.5 Tablespoons mixed or lime pickle, chopped
• 800g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• salt to taste

Spice Mix
• 1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon vinegar

How you make it…
1. Heat the ghee to a high heat. While it is heating up mix the Spice Mix with the vinegar and enough water to form a sloppy paste.
2. Add the cumin seeds and fry for 15 seconds. They should sizzle immediately. You can test the ghee is hot enough by adding one seed.
3. Add the garlic paste and cook for 1 minute on a lower heat. You may have to remove the pan from the heat initially to stop the paste burning. (If it burns then throw it away and start again.)
4. Add the Spice Mix paste and cook for 2 minutes. It should now be thick and gloopy.
5. Add the Base Curry Sauce and the tomato and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Add 2 Tablespoons chopped pickle and mix well
7. Add the chicken, mix well and cook for five minutes.
8. Add the garam masala, salt (check carefully as the pickle is usually salty enough) and coriander stems and continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked.
9. Serve, garnished with the coriander leaves and the other half Tablespoon of pickle.

CHEF’S TIP
You can also try this with Shaktora a citrus that is native of Sylhet in Bangladesh.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

Why do pickles love being in a curry? …Because they relish it.

Achari Chicken, strictly for fans of pickling spices.

How to cook… Prawn Balchão

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

For such a small state Goa has a rich and varied cuisine. Drawing on influences from Portuguese (who ruled Goa for 450 years until 1961) and Indian cooking and naturally using the the abundant fish and shellfish, Goa has produced some superb dishes. Prawn Balchão is one of them. The fiery prawn dish, considered a pickle by many, includes dried chillies, peppercorns and tamarind to create a hot but tart flavour.

What you need…
• 600g prawns, shelled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• knob of butter
• 1 Tablespoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons tamarind paste
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1.5 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon tomato ketchup
• Salt to taste
• 15 curry leaves

Spice Mix
• 2 peppercorns
• 12 dried, red chillies
• 2 cloves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

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How you make it…
1. Mix the turmeric and salt with prawns and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Dry roast the Spice Mix in a pan until they release their aromas (about 3 minutes).
3. Add together the roasted Spice Mix, garlic paste, ginger paste, vinegar and tamarind and blend to a paste.
4. Heat the oil in a pan to a medium heat and fry the prawns until they turn pink (about 3 minutes). Set aside.
5. Heat the oil to a medium heat and fry the onions until soft (about 5 minutes)
6. Add the tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes, mashing the mixture as it cooks. Add a little water as necessary to start creating a thickish sauce.
7. Add the tomato ketchup, Spice Mix paste and curry leaves, mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
8. Add the prawns and stir fry until they are all cooked through (about 3–5 minutes).

CHEF’S TIP
You can use any vinegar in this dish but for an authentic taste use coconut vinegar which gives added sharpness.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

Check out 5 Best Goa Curries

Vinegar is always struggling through life… Whatever he does he ends up in a pickle.

How to cook… Murgh Nawabi

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

This is a dish from the predominantly Muslim city of Lucknow in North India and dates back hundreds of years to the era of the Nawab-Wazirs (who governed what was known as the state of Awadh at the time). The Nawabs were the royal leaders that followed the great Mughlai era and they were renowned for their great excess. This rich dish of yoghurt, cream, nuts and sultanas is that certainly one that fits the bill.

What you need…
• 800g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 Tablespoons oil
• 1.5 onions, pureed
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 150ml cream
• 1 Tablespoon sultanas
• 1 Tablespoon sliced almonds
• small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (optional, if you like it sweeter)
• salt to taste (remember there is salt in the marinade)

Marinade
• 100g yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

How you make it…
1. Rub the chicken with the lemon juice and leave for 10 minutes.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade, add the chicken, mix well and leave for 1 hour.
3. Heat the oil in a pan to a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the curry powder and garam masala and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the chicken and marinade and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add the cream, sultanas and almonds, mix well and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add the coriander stems, (optional) sugar and salt if needed, mix well and continue cooking until all the chicken pieces are fully cooked.
8. Sprinkle the coriander leaves on top and serve.

CHEF’S TIP
This dish is also delicious with paneer instead of chicken.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

Why does the cream have so many friends? … Because it’s so cool.

Murgh Nawabi, rich in cream, nuts and sultanas.

How to cook… Smoker Tandoori Chicken

Recipes

Serves 4 as a starter

Classic Tandoori Chicken is great when cooked in a smoker. It’s a fairly long process and the final taste is way smokier than you’d get in a grill or a tandoor but it’s well worth it for tandoori lovers. Marinate the delicious spices in the Tandoori Marinade and then smoke away…

What you need…
• 4–6 deboned chicken thighs, skinned and trimmed of excess fat
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 recipe of Tandoori/Tikka Marinade

How you make it…
1. Make 2–3 small cuts about 3mm deep into the flesh of each thigh. This helps the chicken absorb the the marinade and gives the cooked thighs a nice look too.
2. Squeeze the lemon over the thighs, rub it in well and leave for 15 minutes. This will degrease the chicken and also helps the chicken absorb the marinade.
3. Shake off the excess lemon and coat the thighs in the Tandoori Marinade. Leave for at least 15 minutes but preferably 24–48 hours.
4. Heat your smoker to 150 C. If using a manual smoker make sure the flames from your fire have died down and the wood/coals are just producing smoke.
5. Place the thighs in the smoker, keeping them at the farthest end from the heat source, and cook for 90 minutes, turning once.

CHEF’S TIP
When making your Tandoori Marinade you can omit the water to keep the marinade thicker. This helps the thighs retain their moisture.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

Why should you never smoke pickles? … Because they’ll make you dill.
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