The Famous Chicken Curry from Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman & Yeshi Jampa

 

A few weeks ago... actually now I think about it. It was a few months ago, I made a very delicious chicken curry but life got in the way and then more life stuff happened and I didn't get to share it with you. But here it is. 

It's from a cookbook called 'Taste Tibet' by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa. Its a cookbooks filled to the brim with culture, history, traditions and of course recipes from the Himalayas. What I didn't know until I started reading is Taste Tibet is a restaurant, shop and festival food stall in Oxford, in the UK which is run and owned by Julie and Yeshi. Yeshi is the cook, head chef and chief recipe developer in the duo.

'At first glance, Tibetan food looks a lot like Chinese food. Noodles, dumplings and small plates are a big feature of the cuisine.' 

This book makes your mouth water just flicking through the pages. Stirfry's (hot and cold), fried rice, noodles, Tibetan yoghurt, soups, stews, savoury and sweet momos (which are a type of dumpling), flatbreads, curries and then there is the sweets for those sweet tooth's with ceremonial biscuits and truffles.

Although there were lots of delicious recipes to try, the one that caught my eye was the 'Taste Tibet Famous Chicken Curry'. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. And that was without using curry leaves and doing my very best with what we have up here to find the closest curry powders too.

Text from Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa, food photography by Ola O. Smith, travel photography by Keiko Wong.
Murdoch Books RRP $49.99

Taste Tibet Famous Chicken Curry

Recipe from: Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman & Yeshi Jampa

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2.5cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, washed but not peeled, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon Bassar curry masala (or hot chilli powder)

1 1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder

2 tablespoons coconut milk powder

6-8 fresh curry leaves, or 10-12 dried

1 x 400ml (14 fl oz) tin coconut milk

600g (1 lb 5oz) chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon salt

Chopped coriander (cilantro), to garnish - optional

Place a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the oil. When it's hot, add the garlic and ginger and let it brown for a couple of minutes, then add the onion and stir for a further 2 minutes. Now add the tomatoes, turmeric, curry masala and curry powder. Mix together and cook for 10-15 minutes, turning the heat down a little and adding about 50 ml (2 1/2 tablespoons) of water if anything starts to catch, then add the coconut milk powder, curry leaves and coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Take your time here: you are making a curry paste, and it needs to be cooked through completely before you can add the chicken. 

Now add the chicken and salt. Turn the heat back up to high, stir the chicken through the sauce and cook for 8-10 minutes, adding a little boiling water - but only a little - if anything sticks. The pan should be quite dry to begin with, before the juices from the chicken start to be released, so wait a while before adding any water. 

After the chicken has been in for 8 minutes, check to make sure it is fully cooked. To do this, take a piece out and cut it through the middle - it should be white all the way through. If the sauce looks too thick, add a little more boiling water and stir briskly for 2 minutes. Garnish with coriander, if you like, then serve.