Chicken Rogan

A beautiful aromatic curry, using the spice paste mix from Waldo's lovely Lamb Rogan Josh.

• For the spice paste
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 cardamoms
• 4 cloves
• 8 black peppercorns
• 3 tsp dessicated coconut
• 3 tsp flaked almonds
• 1" thumb ginger
• 7 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp mild chilli powder
• ¼ tsp tumeric powder
• Main dish
• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 1 small onion
• 1 tin whole tomatoes
• 4 dessert spoons plain yoghurt
• 2 birds eye chillis
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• Garnish
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 25g fresh coriander (a small bunch)

First up, prepare the spice paste.

Roast the coriander seeds - either in a hot pan or under the grill - until they start to make a popping sound. Take them out and put them to one side and then in the same pan roast the cumin seeds, almonds, cardamoms, peppercorns and cloves. When they start popping take them out and put them to one side too. Finally roast the dessicated coconut in the same pan. The pan's quite hot by now, so this won't take long; make sure it doesn't burn.

Grind all of the toasted spices in a pestle and mortar (or a coffee grinder if you have one).

Peel and grate the garlic and ginger and mix the results with the ground spices, the salt, the chilli powder, the turmeric and 1 tbsp of groundnut oil to make a dark oily paste.

Next finely chop the onion and chillis. Get the remainder of the oil hot over a medium flame in an oven proof dish (casserole dish preferably) and soften the onions and chillis in it, until the onions go translucent.

Add the spice paste to the pan and stir fry for a few minutes, getting it evenly spread across the onions.

Add the yoghurt a dessert spoon at a time; thoroughly stirring it in as you add it. It's vital to add it in small amounts to stop it curdling. Once the yoghurt is added pour in the tin of tomatoes and stir and cook for another few minutes.

Chop each of the chicken breasts into 3 pieces and add them to the pan, the put a lid on it and place it in a preheated oven (at 160C) for 55 minutes.

When ready to serve sprinkle with garam masala and chopped fresh coriander.