Butter Chicken Bunny Chow
BUTTER CHICKEN
Marinade chicken for 1-3 days in following (keep refrigerated):
1 1/2 cups full fat Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons ground tumeric
2 tablespoons garam masala
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 - 1 1/2 kg chicken - without skin, on or off the bone
Method
In a large pan:
1. Melt 100g butter add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2. Add 2 medium diced onions
3. Fry until soft
4. Add 4 cloves garlic (minced),
5. 3 tablespoons fresh ginger (grated)
6. 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
Cook until onions start to brown
7. Add: 1 cinnamon stick 2 tomatoes, diced 1-2 red chillies, seeded and diced Fry until chillies soft (approximately 10min)
8. In another pan: brown marinated chicken pieces on both sides quickly
9. Original large pan: Add chicken and marinade to the pan, cook 5 minutes
10. Bring mixture to the boil, then lower heat and simmer until chicken almost cooked
11. You can add water or chicken stock if mixture becomes too dry
12. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cream and 3 teaspoons tomato paste
13. Simmer until chicken is cooked through
14. Add salt to taste
15. Add 3 tablespoons ground almonds Cook for extra 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves
We arrived about 4 and a half months ago. A humbling experience. I will not lie and tell you that the south of France during that first month was the best thing since sliced baguettes! Furnishing our home in 2 hours with a baby on one hip and a toddler running away in all directions made me speak ‘French’ without speaking a word of French, but alack alas this du Plessis family is made of strong stuff and as soon as I was able to order ‘un verre de vin rouge’ I knew I would survive. Rosalie (3 years) goes to a french school, and within a few days she told us to ‘Arrêtez’ (stop) when we irritated her. Her sister, Helé (1 year old) keeps me busy by unpacking everything I just packed and by making a mess where I just cleaned. I am currently working on patenting an automatic toy pick-upper - almost like the robot hoover. I’m sure it will sell like ‘fromage’ in France. I do miss the adrenaline rush of being a trauma doctor (a new steam mop or newly discovered spider species in the corner of my ‘chambre’ only raises the adrenaline that much), but living in France forces me to enjoy the small pleasures in life: buying fresh produce weekly at our local market, never passing a merry-go-around without riding on it, fresh baguettes warm from the oven, weeding-planting-producing, giving-receiving, kids playing hide-and-seek in the street, great neighbours - one has chickens and gives us eggs, the other madame googled South African recipes and made us koeksisters. All in all I’d say the South of France forced us to eat, love and pray. Pray a lot!
