Ragini’s Chicken Curry (Cari Poule)

Ingredients

• 1 medium chicken
• 1 medium onion
• 10 curry leaves
• ⅓ tsp of each of ground cinnamon, ground cardamom and ground cloves
• ¾ tbsp garlic and ginger paste
• 3 tbsp Ragini’s Mauritian Curry Powder
• 2 fresh tomatoes or 200g (half a tin) of tinned tomatoes
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt
• 200g potatoes and ½ cup of peas or small mushrooms (optional)

Equipment needed

• Karahi – A karahi is a large pot, usually cast iron, but a wok or large pan can be used just as well

Method

Cut tomatoes into small pieces.

Add 60 to 100 millilitres of cold water to Ragini’s Mauritian Curry Powder to make a paste.
Heat oil in karahi (a karahi is a large pot, usually cast iron, but a wok or large pan can be used just as well).

Add the peeled and sliced onion and cook until translucent (clear).

Add curry leaves, garlic and ginger paste and cinnamon, cardamom and cloves powder, stir and cook for 1 minute.

Add curry paste into karahi and stir well, leave to cook until oil and curry paste starts to separate slightly. If the mixture sticks to karahi add 60 to 100 millilitres of water and stir well. This makes the curry sauce.

Add the pieces of chicken to curry sauce and mix well. Add salt to taste.

Cover with karahi lid and leave to cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, add tomatoes and cook for further 10 minutes. Every now and then give the pot a quick stir.

Optional – After 20 minutes wash and cut the potatoes in half and add to curry with peas, or clean and cut the mushrooms into halves and add to curry and leave to cook for a further 5-10 minutes until potatoes are cooked.

Take off heat and sprinkle chopped coriander over the chicken curry.

Then you can serve it with a combination of white basmati rice, Mauritian roti (paratha), dhal puri, a nice green cucumber salad, watercress and lettuce.