Herb Curry with Chicken Breast and Eggplant, Made with SN3

Lean meat, and eggplant rich with oil. In a single mouthful, the two balance each other out.

Chicken breast carries almost no fat. What it lacks, the eggplant supplies, having drunk up the oil in the pot. That is why summer eggplant is its partner here.

We call Symphony No.3 the "edible bouquet garni" because the herbs that Western cooking bundles and drops into the pot are in it as they are: bay laurel, oregano, rosemary. Not one spice in it carries heat, so it is not hot. It is this aroma that draws the outline of the mild chicken breast.

The chicken breast spends five minutes in the pot — no more. The longer it simmers, the more moisture it loses and the tougher it turns, so it goes in last of all. After the height of summer, how about a slightly lighter curry?

Total time: about 50 min

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• SN3 / starter spices (whole-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• SN3 / powder spices (powder sachet): 1 sachet
• Chicken breast: 300 g
• 3 eggplants
• 1 onion
• 1/2 carrot
• 1/2 celery stalk
• Garlic: 2 tsp (about 1–2 cloves)
• Ginger: 2 tsp (about 1–2 knobs)
• Canned whole tomatoes: 1 can (400 g)
• Coconut milk: 3 tbsp (milk also works)
• Water: 200 ml
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Oil: 3 tbsp (use any oil you like; for this recipe we recommend rice bran oil or refined white sesame oil)

Preparation

1. Grate the garlic, then the ginger, in that order. If you have no grater, mince them finely.
2. Slice the onion thinly, cutting across the grain.
3. Mince the carrot and the celery. Chop the celery leaves and use them too.
4. Remove the skin from the chicken breast and slice it against the grain into 1 cm diagonal slices. Keeping the thickness even keeps the cooking even.
5. Trim the stems off the eggplants and cut them into rough chunks. The cut surfaces darken, so cut them just before they go into the pot. Do not soak them in water — moisture left on them is what makes the sauce watery.
6. Open the starter-spice (whole) sachet. Splitting the cardamom pods in half lengthwise with scissors or a knife lifts their floral aroma.

Instructions

1. Put the oil (3 tbsp) in a pot over low heat, and once the oil is warm, add the starter spices (whole-spice sachet).
2. When the cardamom (the green pods) puffs up, add the grated garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds, mixing them through the spices.
3. Add the onion, carrot, celery and salt (1 tsp), mix well with the spices, then turn the heat to high and cook for about 12 minutes until deep amber, splashing in water little by little as you go.

   How far you take the onion changes the finished curry more than anything else. If a curry comes out watery, sharp with tomato acidity, or lacking depth, the single biggest cause is moving on before the onion has turned amber. Cook it for a full 12–15 minutes, until it is properly amber.
   The points are:
   - keep the heat at medium-high to high
   - spread the onion evenly across the pot and leave it, then stir; spread and leave again, then stir — and repeat
   - when you stir and feel catching on the base of the pot, splash in a little water (in our experience, about 2 tbsp each time, around 5 times in total)
   Splashing in water carries the savor the heat draws out of the onion through the whole pot, and lets you reach amber without burning. Letting it catch slightly and then deglazing is, if anything, exactly right for drawing out the umami.

4. When the aromatic vegetables are amber, turn the heat to medium, add the eggplant and fry for about 3 minutes, turning it through the oil. If the eggplant drinks up the oil and the pot runs dry, add about 1 tbsp more. The chicken breast does not go in here. The standard way of building a curry adds the meat at this stage, but chicken breast loses moisture and toughens the longer it cooks, so this recipe alone changes the order.
5. Add the entire powder-spice sachet and stir it through, as if cooking the powder itself.
6. Push the ingredients to one side, add the canned tomatoes, crush the whole tomatoes thoroughly, then mix everything together.
7. Add the water (200 ml) and coconut milk (3 tbsp), bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer for about 12 minutes.
8. Add the sliced chicken breast, spread out so the pieces do not overlap, and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. When the surface has changed color and the thickest part is cooked through, that is enough. Stirring breaks up the meat, so no more than a gentle shake of the pot.
9. Taste at the end and adjust the salt. Adding it a pinch at a time until it tastes right to you is the key to a delicious finish.

Bay leaf, cardamom and cassia (bark) are not usually eaten, so pick them out when you find them. Remove them before plating, and eggplant and chicken travel to the mouth together more easily.

Inspice Spice Curry spice sets contain no chili, cayenne pepper or other typical sources of heat, so adjust the heat to your liking.

To add heat, we recommend HOT SPICE. It is a blend that adds heat and umami together, so instead of simply getting hotter, the curry keeps its aroma while the flavor tightens. Do not add it to the pot; sprinkle it little by little over each serving. That way, people who prefer it mild can share the same pot.