BALTI CHICKEN PASANDA

13 March 2019 By

This could be described as a “Royal” dish. Spicy, but not too hot, it is a rich, creamy and fragrant dish. The addition of the nuts makes Balti Chicken Pasanda rather festive.

BALTI CHICKEN PASANDA

Ingredients - Serves 6

  • 3 tbsp oil or ghee
  • 2 cm cassia bark (or cinnamon)
  • 3 green cardamom pods
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
  • 3 tbsp green chilli paste, made by grinding 2-3 hot green chillies
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 3 tbsp Latasha’s Kitchen Butter Chicken Concentrate Paste

 

  • 5 heaped tbsp Greek-style full cream natural pot set yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp concentrated Mutti tomato paste
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 kg chicken thighs, cut into pieces
  • 4 tbsp ground almonds
  • ½ cup single cream

Garnish

  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Sprinkle of honey, jaggery, brown sugar or palm sugar
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
  • Good pinch of Latasha’s Kitchen Garam Masala

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Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large heavy pan on medium then add the cassia bark and cardamoms, cumin seeds and bay leaf. Stir a little then add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt and stir for a few minutes with the heat on high. Turn the heat to low and cook until it softens.
  2. Add the green chilli paste and diced tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes on low, until it’s a thick paste.
  3. Add Latasha’s Kitchen Butter Chicken Concentrated Sauce and cook for another 10 minutes.
  4. Add 1 tablespoon of yoghurt, stir round and turn the heat up so the yoghurt sizzles in the oil.
  5. When the yoghurt has lost a lot of its moisture, add another tablespoon. Stir and fry as before.
  6. Repeat until all the yoghurt is incorporated (the last tablespoons won’t sizzle but it doesn’t matter).
  7. Add the tomato paste, stir in the chicken pieces and add salt to taste.
  8. The colour of the dish should now be similar to a rich orange yellow. Coat the chicken well with the spice mixture on high heat, then turn heat to moderate and stir in enough hot water to make the mixture more fluid.
  9. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
  10. Add the ground almonds to the sauce and simmer gently for another 5 minutes.
  11. At the end of the cooking you should have a fairly thick, creamy sauce with little patches of oil appearing on the surface.
  12. Finish with the single cream, and serve, garnished with lemon juice, honey or jaggery, fresh coriander and a sprinkle of Latasha’s Kitchen Garam Masala.