Chicken Curry, made with SN3

SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.3 / SN3) makes this Chicken Curry.

This is the SN3 version of the Basic Chicken Curry made with SN1. We wondered how a chicken curry would taste made with SN3, the herbal blend built on the idea of a bouquet garni you can eat. It was very good, so we wrote it up as a recipe.

It gives you a chicken curry quite unlike the SN1 one, so do try it.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• SN3 / starter spices (the bag of whole spices): 1 bag
• SN3 / powder spices (the bag of ground spices): 1 bag
• Canned whole tomatoes: 1 can (400g)
• Onion: 1
• Carrot: 1/2
• Garlic (grated): 2 tsp (1–2 cloves)
• Ginger (grated): 1 tbsp
• Chicken thigh: 200g (roughly one thigh)
• Coconut milk: 3 tbsp (milk also works)
• Nam pla (Thai fish sauce): 2 tsp (soy sauce also works)
• Vinegar: 1 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tbsp (kibizato, unrefined cane sugar, is our suggestion)
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Oil: 3 tbsp (use whichever oil you prefer; for this recipe we suggest rice bran oil or white sesame oil)
• Water: 200ml
  
  

Preparation

• Grate the garlic, then the ginger, in that order.
  
  

  If you have no grater, chop them finely

  
  
• Finely chop the onion and carrot.
  
  
• Cut the chicken thigh into easy-to-eat chunks.
  
  

Method

1. Put the oil: 3 tbsp in a pan over low heat, and once the oil has warmed, add the starter spices (the bag of whole spices).
   
   
   
   
2. When the cardamom (the green pods) puff up, add the grated garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring them through the spices.
   
   
3. Add the onion, stir it thoroughly through the spices, then turn the heat to high and splash in water again and again as you cook it properly until it is amber.
   
   
   
   
   

   How far you cook the onion changes the finished dish more than anything else. “It came out watery”, “the tomato tastes too sharp”, “it lacks depth” — the single biggest cause of all three is moving on to the next step before the onion has gone amber. For this Chicken Curry, cook it for a full 12 to 15 minutes and keep going until it is properly amber. The points are: keep the heat at medium to high spread the onion evenly across the pan and leave it, then stir; spread it evenly and leave it again, then stir — and repeat whenever you stir and feel something catching on the base of the pan, splash in a little water (in our experience, about 2 tbsp of water each time, roughly five times in all) Splashing in water carries the savour the onion releases through the whole pan and keeps it from catching while it turns amber. Letting it colour just enough to need a splash of water is, if anything, exactly what draws the flavour out. It takes a little time and attention, but it is the step that decides the result, so give it the care it needs.

   
   
   
4. Once the onion is amber, switch to medium heat, add the carrot, chicken thigh and salt: 1 tsp, and cook them together.
   
   
5. Once the chicken is cooked through, push the ingredients to the side of the pan and, in the space you have made, add the canned whole tomatoes: 1 can (400g), coconut milk: 3 tbsp (milk also works),
   nam pla: 2 tsp (soy sauce also works), vinegar: 1 tsp and sugar: 1 tbsp (kibizato is our suggestion).
   
   
6. Once it comes to the boil, add all of the powder spices and work them through, thinking of it as cooking the powder itself through.
   
   
7. Keeping the heat at medium, add the water: 200ml.
   
   
8. Once you see it come to the boil, lower the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
   
   
9. Finally, taste and adjust the salt.

That is it.

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the chilli, cayenne or red pepper that usually carries the heat, so add as much as you like to suit your taste.