Name: Chicken Masala
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2 tsp turmeric; 1 pinch saffron strands or ⅓ tsp ground saffron; 4 tsp curry powder; small piece cinnamon stick; good pinch curry leaves or 3 bay leaves; 2 tsp paprika; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 24 chicken thighs, boned and skinned; 60 g clarified butter or ghee; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 2 tsp cumin powder; 1 ltr Chicken Stock; 2 tsp tomato purée; 100 g cream of coconut block; ½ lemon; 8 servings Basmati Rice (see Kedgeree); 25 g coriander, chopped; 70 g flaked almonds, lightly toasted; 1 tsp fenugreek seeds; 4 cloves; 3 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 85 g fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped; 6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed; 200 g aubergine flesh, peeled and finely diced; 2 small chillies, finely chopped

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Ivy

By AA Gill and Mark Hix

Published 1997

About

There has been confusion over this dish. Some people have ordered it and expected chicken in Marsala wine. Others cannot imagine what a curry is doing on the Ivy menu in the first place. But why shouldn’t it be? Indian food is as much part of Britain’s trade-borne culinary culture as French food. I call it empire food, not in a pejorative, colonising sense but to evoke an empire of food made unique to Britain by the sea.