Red Hot Chicken Curry with Peas

I hear the rumbling of a rickety van down the street and a booming voice echoing through a megaphone “Fowls! Fresh Fowls!!”.  The continuous honking of the horn makes me want to stick my head under the pillow and fall right back to sleep. It’s Saturday, no school and a rare chance to catch those extra forty winks. Alas! That indulgent thought is short-lived, for Saturday in almost every Durban household is Fresh Fowl Curry Day, a delicacy definitely worth the “all day” affair of prepping and cooking.

Mother shouts out at the top of her voice “C’mon get up the fowl van is here, go tell them to stop!”  No arguing with that command, you do as you’re told, or else!  Such was the story in almost every household in an Indian suburb every Saturday morning. The van would drive by slowly and stop at intervals along the streets, while people flocked around packed mesh cages at the back of the van to pick their live chickens. Honestly, I have no idea why my mother asked me to go and stop the van when it was going to stop anyway!

And so the day began. The entire morning was spent cleaning and cutting up the chicken, separating it into different portions for different cooking methods, the big washing up and cleaning everything it touched and finally it makes it into the pot. Then the big torturous wait! When do we eat?

Nowadays, with all the endless choices we have for chicken, there’s no reason why the same tastes and flavors can’t be acquired in a very quick time. Here’s my recipe for a spicy curry that never fails to invoke those memories and make me relive them in every bite. 

Ingredients

Whole spices (1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 3 cardamom, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 1 bay leaf)

1 medium onion diced

4 pounds chicken cut into pieces (Use what you prefer. I like the bone in and a combination of dark and white meat)

4 Tbs mixed masala (I use Durban mix)

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

3 medium tomatoes diced

1 Tbs salt

1 cup green peas

Heat oil on medium heat and add whole spices. When they start to splutter, add the onion and sauté gently till it starts to turn light brown.

At this point you can remove the larger whole spices if you’re worried about unsuspectingly biting into one (not nice!).

Alternately, you could toast and grind the whole spices and add it when you add the masala which is the next step.

Add the Durban Masala to the onion and stir for 30 seconds or it will burn.

Add the chicken, ginger and garlic and mix till well incorporated.

Cover the pot and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the chicken absorbs the flavors and spices are well distributed.

Add salt and tomatoes.  You can adjust the salt later according to your taste.

Cover and cook on medium till tomatoes start to break down.

Simmer for another half hour to 45 minutes.
If you're like me and like extra gravy, add half a cup of water and simmer a little longer.

Add the frozen peas in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice, roti or make a bunny chow.

Now grab a big glass of water with lots of ice and a couple extra napkins and chow down!!