Chicken Curry

NOTE: Allow chicken to marinate overnight for better flavor. 


Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, quartered
• 3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled (you can substitute 2 tsp. garlic paste)
• 1 inch of ginger, peeled (you can substitute 2 tsp. of ginger paste)
• 3 green chilis (thai)
• 1.5 cups of yogurt
• 1 tsp. of turmeric
• 3 tsp. of curry powder (see my family's recipe)
• 1 whole chicken, skinless and broken down. (bones are fine, but you can do the boneless variety, too.)
• 2 medium or 1 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 tsp. of tomato paste.
• 3 cups of water (or chicken broth for extra flavor)
• At least 1 tsp. of salt, rest to taste
• 1 tsp. of sugar
• 1/4 cup of cilantro, cleaned and chopped. 
• the juice of 1/2 lemon 
• 2 tsp. vegetable or grapeseed or canola oil.

Directions: 

1. In a blender or food processor, add onions, ginger and garlic. Blend or process until it's a thick paste-like substance (you can add 1 or 2 tsp. of water if needed). Add salt, lemon, turmeric and yogurt to the blender and continue to mix. If you want this chicken to be spicy, blend in two of the chilis, without stems. For medium spice, blend in 1 chili; for mild don't blend in chilis.  The mixture is the marinade for the chicken. 
2. Once all is combined, allow chicken to marinate overnight. 
3. Next day, in a large pot -- add the oil and heat. 
4. When the oil starts smoking slightly, add diced tomatoes and allow to "fry" in the oil for one minute. 
5. Add curry powder and allow the spices to bloom for another minute. 
6. Then add chicken to pot with it's marinade. The chicken will begin to cook in the marinade, which now will act as the based for the sauce. [Note the marinade will be heated and any possible contamination from the poultry won't exist anymore. However, if you can't imagine using the marinade as the sauce, repeat Step 1 and make a "fresh" marinade to use with the chicken. Pull the chicken out of marinade and sear off, adding marinade as the base to the sauce.
7. Once you see the chicken is starting to cook, add in the tomato paste, sugar and water or broth to the pot. Add the remaining chili to the pot to add more flavor.
8. Bring to a boil. Cover then cook on low for 30 minutes; stirring occasionally.
9. After 30 minutes, check for seasoning; add salt to taste or more spice if necessary. [Fans of sriracha, this is a good place to add at least 1 tsp.)
10. Turn heat off. Add cilantro and stir in. Cover pot until you serve it. 
11. Serve with rice.