Retroblogging: Green Chicken Korma

I haven’t put up a post for… ever. But my friend Catherine came over the other night and I made something delicious, and then tonight I made something delicious to go with the leftovers, so I decided to go retro and write it all down.

The dish—a green chicken korma full of mint and cilantro—is supremely easy to throw together but feels luxurious. And the naans turned out surprisingly convincingly. So get cooking. 

Green Chicken Korma

Serves 4-5

FOR MARINADE:

Half a bunch of cilantro (about 1 loosely packed cup)

About the same amount of mint

3-5 fat garlic cloves

1-1/2” piece of ginger root, peeled 

1/2-1 tsp of Kashmiri red chili powder (which is very mild), or 1/4 tsp cayenne, or 2 tsp paprika 

2-4 small green chilis, or to taste 

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 c whole fat Greek yogurt 

Juice of 1 lime

FOR KORMA: 

About 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1/4” slices

3 TB neutral oil or ghee

10 peppercorns

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 large onion, diced finely 

2 TB cashew or almond butter (or about the same amount of ground nuts) 

1. Put all of the marinade ingredients into a food processor and purée. Empty into a bowl and add sliced chicken breast; mix well. Keep in fridge for 1-2 hrs. (Don’t leave it longer or the chicken will get too cottony.)

2. Heat oil in a heavy pot over medium high heat. Add cumin seeds and peppercorns. When the cumin changes color, add onions. Sauté until lightly browned. 

3. Add chicken and marinade. Sauté until chicken loses its raw color. Add 1/3 c water and turn heat to medium low. Let chicken cook till done, about 10 minutes. Stir in ground nuts or nut butter. Let it combine and thicken the sauce.

4. Serve with hot naans. Tonight I used Meera Sodha’s recipe,  from the New York Times. They were fab.