chicken in a red sweet pepper sauce

Lal masale wali murghi

from Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey - p. 101, with minor modifications by Brian

serves 4

Very quick and easy. I tend to go long on the sauce, because it's so tasty. Next time I try this, I'm going to brown the chicken first, to see if that makes any difference.

1 kg	2 1/4 lbs	chicken pieces - I've used boneless, skinless breast meat, cut into cubes.
100g	4 oz	onions, peeled and coarsely chopped (I double this, because I like onions)
2.5 cm	1 inch	cube fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves		garlic, peeled - I use WAY more
25g	1 oz	blanched, slivered almonds
350g	12 oz	red sweet peppers, trimmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp		ground cumin
2 tsp		ground coriander
1/2 tsp		ground turmeric
1/8 - 1/2 tsp		cayenne pepper - I a bit more than the larger amount
2 tsp		salt
7 tbsp		vegetable oil (I used ghee)
250ml	8 fl. oz	water
2 tbsp		lemon juice
1/2 tsp		coarsely ground black pepper

If chicken legs are whole, divide the drumsticks from thighs with a sharp knife. Breasts should be cut into four parts. Skin all chicken pieces. As mentioned above, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into smaller cubes.

Combine the onions, ginger, garlic, almonds, peppers, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, and salt in the container of a food processor or blender. Blend, pushing down with a rubber spatula whenever you need to, until you have a paste.

Put the oil in a large, wide, preferably nonstick, pot and set over medium-high heat. When hot, pour in all the paste. Stir and fry it for 10-12 minutes or until you see the oil forming tiny bubbles around it.

Put in the chicken, with the water, lemon juice, and black pepper. Stir to mix and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer gently for 25 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Stir a few times.

Keeps well as leftovers.