Red-Braised Chicken

Name: Red-Braised Chicken
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter or neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed; 2 large onions, sliced; Salt and black pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger; 3 small hot fresh chiles, like jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or 3 small hot dried chiles, crumbled, or 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes, or to taste; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground cardamom; Pinch of ground cloves; 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; don’t bother to drain); 1 chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts, trimmed of excess fat, skinned if you like; Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

December 14, 2011

A basic spicy braised dish (non-Indians might call it a curry) that can be varied as you like (a couple of ideas follow the main recipe) and can also be made with lamb, pork, or seafood. Though it is traditionally made quite hot in its northern India home (as much food there is), you can reduce the number of chiles to one for a much milder version or increase them if your tastes run that way. Because the chicken is not browned, the dish is relatively easy to make; you can remove its skin if you like, because without the browning it adds nothing. I love this with a Paratha (page 559) but that might be too much work; it’s delicious with any rice dish also.

Recipe notes

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