Rebecca's South Indian 'Korma'

Yesterday my friend Rebecca came over and we did something very Middle Eastern, something I haven’t done in years. While we visited, we cooked a meal to divvy up and have as dinner that night for our families. In Kenya, especially when we lived up North near the Somali border, I noticed that the women often got together to do their tiresome domestic tasks; and this always managed to transform the tedius into a social exercise. The ladies went to the well together to draw the day’s water, and I remember how the laughter (and gossip) rang out in loud, sometimes almost-bawdy peals.
Back to OUR tedious task at hand dinner which we would be cooking with tender loving care for our beloved families.

Rebecca has spent time over in the Middle East, and she loves cooking exotic food, just as much as I love eating it. She had in mind a dish from Southern India that is a family favourite and staple. I provided some of the ingredients also and we began to cook.

South Indian Korma (these measurements are based on memory, as we were really just chucking it all in! So, especially in regards to the powdered spices, do it according to taste.)

Ingredients:
2 kilos chicken thighs

2 tbsp chicken stock powder

2 tbsp korma powder (or curry powder if you cannot access an Indian spice store)

2 tbsp cumin
3 large onions
A large bunch parsley
1 large bunch coriander
7 garlic cloves
1 large chunk ginger
2 cans coconut cream
6 tomatoes
oil

Chop up the herbs, onion, garlic and ginger; then sautée these in oil till soft. Scrape this all out of the pan and set aside.

Chop the chicken into large cubes. Stir/rub the curry, chicken stock powder and cumin into the chicken well, before frying the chicken cubes in oil till browned. Add the onion mixture, two cans coconut cream, 2 canfuls of water, and chopped tomatoes (each tomato chopped into 8 pieces). Stir over highish heat till it starts to boil, then simmer over a lower heat for 45 minutes !

This is just so yummy. We were so engrossed in our task, that both of us were totally oblivious to the fact that our sons had decided to break their morning tea into great big crumbs and do a Hansel and Gretel all through the house (note to self, next time give them vanilla cookies instead of Oreos)

Next fortnight we are going to do a tagine.