Chicken dhansak (spicy chicken and lentil stew)
Every time we have a takeaway from the local Indian Restaurant, Hubby always raves about their Chicken Dhansak. It’s kind of a lentily, thick and very slightly sweet chicken curry with a powerful kick of chilli. I’ve been trying to recreate it for a while and I think, judging by his reaction, I’m nearly there. It’s great served with my cheaty flatbreads and once you’ve got the store-cupboard stuff, you’ll find you cook it again and again. Here goes, then:
1 large onion, sliced
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried chilli (more if you can take it)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp dried fenugreek
750ml chicken stock
2 chicken breasts, cubed (cooked or raw – leftover tandoori chicken is perfect for this)
200g red lentils or dal/split peas
Righty ho, firstly a little word about lentils. Generally I prefer the little red rentils that are readily available in the dry goods bit of the supermarket. This time I tried Chana Dal, which only seem to be found in the Indian section of the big, enormous, superduper Tesco-a-go-go in the next town. I found they didn’t break down as well as the smaller lentils and took longer to cook, but have an experiment and find out what’s best for you.
Onwards, then, to the main event:
The first and most important thing is to make sure you’ve got all your ingredients ready and measured. Have all the spices ready on a plate, the ginger grated and the chicken cubed. It will make your life a lot easier:
So firstly heat up the oil in a heavy based casserole (with a lid), sprinkle over the teaspoon of salt, and fry them gently until they’re translucent (forgive the picture, my lens got a bit steamed up):
Now add in all the spices and stir around for a minute to give them a time to infuse in the oil. The mixture will become very dry, but don’t worry, just keep stirring:
Now just shove in the lentils/dal and the chicken, stir briefly to coat, and then pour in the stock.
Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes (especially if you’re using raw chicken) for the red lentils, and up to 45 minutes if you’re using the larger dal. You might have to check and add a little extra hot water or stock if it thickens too much.
At the last minute, stir in a couple of handfuls of spinach, or coriander, or whatever you’ve got, and serve with steamed rice to which you’ve added a pinch of saffron and a few cardamom pods (warning: count them in and count them back out – nobody likes crunching on a whole cardamom!). And yes, I know this is a rubbish photo, but I was flibbin starving!:
Next time, I’m going to attempt this recipe from Aktar Islam, Head Chef of Lasan, the winner of Gordon Ramsay’s F Word’s Best Local Restaurant competition to which I was bloody riveted (although I thought the Argentinian Restaurant should have won). And no, I didn’t get free Cobra this time, but I still thought it was good (check out the video – the lady has a cat in her sink):
Er… yup, I think that’s it. Chicken dhansak: done. (see what I did there?)
I don’t tend to follow recipes for curries, but then they all come out tasting rather similar
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Yum yum!