Jungle curry recipe
This is a very basic, rustic curry that can be made with guineafowl or any kind of chicken but works particularly well with free-roaming, older birds. Their meat is slightly tougher than that of young birds but there is so much more flavour. In the past, when people cooked this outdoors over a wood fire with very basic implements, the spices would often be added whole and the vegetables roughly cut, hence the name jungle curry.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp Vegetable oil or corn oil
- 5 Cloves
- 1 x 2.5cm (1inch) cinnamon stick, broken in half
- 2 Black cardamon pods
- 0.5 tsp Black peppercorns
- 0.25 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 Bay leaf
- 4 Onions, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Chopped garlic
- 1 x 1.2-1.5kg Guineafowl or free-range chicken, skinned and cut into 8 pieces
- 1 tbsp Ginger paste (equal quantities of root ginger and garlic crushed to make a paste with a little salt)
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1.5 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Red chilli flakes
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp Ground coriander
- 4 Tomatoes, chopped
- 120 g Plain yoghurt
- 2 Green chillies, chopped
- 500 ml Water
- 5 tbsp Fresh fenugreek leaves, blanched in boiling water for 1 minute, then drained and chopped
- 1 tsp Fresh ginger
- 0.5 tsp Dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled between your fingers
- 1 tbsp Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 0.5 Lemon, juice only
Details
- Cuisine: Indian
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 50 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan, add the whole spices and bay leaf and let them splutter.
- Once the spices change colour, add the garlic and then the onion, sauté until golden brown. Don't rush this part of the process as it adds real depth of flavour to the curry.
- Add the guineafowl pieces and stir-fry for 6-8 minutes over a high heat, until browned at the edges. Add the salt, ground coriander, ground cumin, chilli powder, chilli flakes, and then the ginger and garlic paste and cook, stirring, over a high heat for 2-4 minutes.
- Once the oil starts to separate from the masala around the edges of the pan, add the tomatoes and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly to ensure that the spices do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the green chillies, fresh ginger and the yoghurt, reduce the heat and cook, stirring frequently, till the liquid comes to the boil again.
- Add the stock or water, bring to the boil, then simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes or until the guineafowl is fully cooked. Stir in the dried fenugreek leaves, blanched fresh fenugreek leaves, followed by freshly chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice.
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More recipes from Vivek Singh
Restaurant - The Cinnamon Club
Book - The Cinnamon Club Cookbook