Chicken Do Pyaza with Okra, Cucumber Raita and Naan

Sunday is curry night at home and usually we go for a takeaway from the local ‘Tandoori Cottage’, yesterday however I decided that I would have a go at rustling up my own creation with a little help from Pushpesh Pant’s ‘India’ cookbook, the invaluable instruction I received when staying with an Indian lady and her daughter in Pune (near Mumbai, thank you Sushma and Shriya), and a little experimentation of my own.

The issue then became the lack of almost all the key ingredients in the house to even contemplate any form of preparation, Tesco was open but there were some pretty niche elements on my shopping list to consider that could only really be bought in the one place I could think of, Brick Lane.

So at 10:30am my father and I set off on our bikes, at his suggestion, and cycled all the way to E1 to do a spot of shopping and earn our curry by means of exertion. I will add that our house is in East Hertfordshire and after navigating several canal towpaths in the pouring rain, falling off my bike in front of a trendy café packed with patrons, and taking in Dad’s mandatory ‘City of London Tour’, the whole excursion took in 44 miles and 8 hours. The pressure was on to make the most of the fruits of our labour. Spicy.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

Note - The naan bread dough needs to rest for 2 hours prior to rolling out.

Note 2 – The chicken should be left to marinate for 2 hours prior to cooking.

Chicken Do Pyaza:

4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

5 white onions, roughly chopped

½ head of cauliflower

1 cup of vegetable oil (ghee can be used to enhance the flavour, and calories)

8 cloves

8 green cardamoms, crushed

3 tspns cumin seeds

4 tspns medium chilli powder

5 tspns garam masala

2 inch piece of ginger, crushed into paste

3 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander

300ml natural yoghurt, briefly whisked

Water

Salt

Okra:

14 pieces of Okra (ladies’ fingers)

1 medium red chilli, cut into wheels

1 onion, finely chopped

4 tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges each

Water

Okra Masala:

2 inch piece of cinnamon

1 dried red chilli

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 black cardamoms, crushed

4 green cardamoms, crushed

Cucumber Raita:

300ml natural yoghurt

½ cucumber, diced

Naan Bread:

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of water

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of natural yoghurt

Salt

Method:

1. For the naan dough put the flour into a bowl and add the water slowly, stirring firstly with a spoon and then using your hands until it becomes a thick doughy consistency, add the yoghurt and a little salt and knead well on a surface dusted with a little flour. The dough should not stick to your hands and should become thick and elastic, at this point add the oil and knead again for between 5 and 10 minutes into a big round lump. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel for 2 hours.

2. To marinate the chicken put the breasts in a bowl, add 2 tspns of garam masala, 2 tspns of chilli powder and a tablespoon of yoghurt, smother it and transfer it to the fridge for 2 hours.

3. Put three of the chopped onions into a pan, cover with a little water and boil until they have absorbed almost all the liquid, transfer to a blender and whizz into a smooth paste.

4. Pour the whole cup of vegetable oil into a thick bottomed pan and fry the remaining onions over a high heat until they brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

5. Add the cloves, chilli powder, cardamoms, cumin seeds, onion and ginger pastes and 3 tspns of garam masala and fry for 2 minutes over a high heat, then add the yoghurt. Turn down the heat to medium and fry for around 25 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens, take care to stir frequently to prevent the sauce burning and add a little water if needed.

6. Whilst the curry cooks soak the okra in salted water for five minutes. While it soaks get out a frying pan and put it over a high heat, brush a little oil over the dried red chilli, add all the ingredients and spices to the pan and dry roast them for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer them to a pestle and mortar/blender and grind into a masala powder.

7. Put the chicken breasts on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 220°C for 10 minutes.

8. Drain the Okra and chop the heads and tails off, then slice them into ½ cm wheels. In the pan used to dry roast the spices add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and fry the masala powder for 1 minute, add the onions, chilli, okra and chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes till they begin to soften, at this point you should add a little water and fry for a further 8 minutes until nice and thick, the smell should be pretty sexy by this point. Take off the heat and keep warm.

9. Now back to the curry: when the sauce is reduced add the fried onions you set aside earlier, the remaining 2 tspns of garam masala along with the chopped coriander and ½ a cup of water. Take the chicken breasts out of the oven and chop them into cubes before adding them to the pan and coating them in the sauce, cook for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is completely done and the sauce thickens up.

10. Raita - dice the cucumber and mix with the yoghurt.

11. Finally, take the naan dough from the bowl and mould it into small ovals of about 80g each, roll it out so it’s a few millimetres thick, place on a baking tray and grill for a few minutes till browning on top. Spread a little butter over it and serve with the curry. Spice as nice.