I've recently started cooking Indian curry style dishes. I've been using Route 79 as a reference, however once I've figured out how simple a basic curry was I thought I'd write this tutorial.

Ingredents

You can be fancy and use your own dry spices, however the nature of Indian curry is using dry spices, and generally similar ones in the same portions. I like to add extra coriander, however that is largely keeping with my motto of using ingredients which start with "C" (coriander, cumin, chilli, cardamom, and on special occasion, cinnamon).

• Chicken, 400 grams diced (As much as I hate deboning chicken, I accidentally bought thigh cutlets)
• Onions, 3 medium
• Diced Tomatoes, 1 400g tin
• Yoghurt (optional)
• Frozen peas
• Curry powder
• Salt & Pepper
• Hot sauce or chilli powder (optional)
• Minced Garlic
• Crushed Ginger (is this available in America?)

Procedure

First, brown the onions with garlic and ginger on 60% heat. I want to try frozen chopped onions, but they aren't available in Australia. When I have to chop my onions, I normally pedal them and cut the pedals to reasonable sizes.

As the onions are looking browned, I add the chicken and continue cooking until the chicken is also done.

When the chicken is cooked, add curry powder, some salt and pepper, and chilli sauce, and coat the chicken. Fry this for a few minutes and don't add any more oil. It should be about dry. Salt really isn't necessary. Chilli sauce and black pepper perform a similar function. If you are worried about how spicy the dish will be, just use white pepper, with which you have to try very hard to make a dish spicy.

After dry frying the spices for a bit, add the tin of tomatoes and a bit of yoghurt. Yoghurt isn't used in every dish (I think it changes the name, not sure), but it makes the meal a little sweeter, and a lighter colour. I used a lot in this dish because my yoghurt is already past expiration. Bring this to a boil.

Once the pot has hit boiling, add the frozen peas. it will then need to simmer for a while the peas defrost, and you may need to add a little water to let it simmer longer. I judge how the dish is done by the texture of the peas (starting to wrinkle) and the consistency of the dish.

Finished Result

Server over rice. My favourite rice is jasmine, however if you want a more Indian experience go with basmati.

Finished: a generic curry dish which probably could be found on the back of the curry powder container.