Make a Luscious Chicken Curry with Ghee Roasted Masala Paste

Who doesn’t love an absolutely lip-smacking curry for any meal of the day in the week? It is also a brilliant way to either use fresh ingredients or the left-overs from a large Sunday roast or meals with the family or friends. Either way it’s the best way to let your imagination go wild and use any combination of meat, vegetables and condiments that can be paired up to create a variety of flavour-profiles in your desired curry of your choice.

One of the classic and staple option that is widely popular and can be found to be served in homes and restaurants across the world – chicken curry. Chicken being one of the leanest, cheapest and versatile protein that is accessible to almost every place in the world makes it one of the most common choices of protein to be used for a curry. Also, it pairs well with variety of vegetables thus giving a varied final curry.

We are sharing here today; our version of an extremely healthy chicken masala curry recipe made with loads of vegetable to complement the chicken. Our inspiration comes from a traditional Chicken Ghee Roast originating from Kundapur in the state of Karnataka, South India.

We have given it a modern twist combining with chicken with meaty baby aubergines, shallots, tangy cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach leaves finished with coconut milk and garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

Our combination of the vegetables ensures to give a good body to our chicken masala curry recipe and also keeping the nett carbohydrates to the minimum and also providing you a good amount of your daily recommended portions of vegetables (7-9 cups).

Chicken Ghee Roast Curry (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients – 

Picosa Ghee Roast Spice Paste – 80 grams

Chicken Breast (With Skin) – 2

Shallots – 200 grams

Baby Aubergines – 200 grams

Cherry Tomatoes – 200 grams

Spinach Leaves – 200 grams

Coconut Milk – 250 ml

Coriander Leaves – For garnish

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (For the chicken) – 30 ml

Butter (For the chicken) – 20 grams

Steps –

1. Season both sides of the chicken breast with salt and pepper.
2. In a frying pan, on a high heat add the extra virgin olive oil and add the seasoned chicken breasts and allow it to get brown on one side and then flip over and allow it to do the same on the other side.
3. Add the knob of butter to the pan and consistently baste the breasts of chicken to keep it moist throughout the cook.
4. Once the chicken has a firm bouncy texture, take it out on a board and allow it to rest.
5. Remove the excess fat from the pan and on a medium heat add Picosa Ghee Roast Spice Paste, add allow it to melt to a sauce like consistency.
6. Add the shallots, followed by the baby aubergines and allow them to caramelize.
7. Once caramelized, add the cherry tomatoes and give the vegetables a good toss mixing everything well together.
8. Add 350 ml of Chicken stock or water and allow the curry to simmer over a low- medium heat until it reduces by 2/3rd.
9. Once the curry is reduced to the desired thickness, add the coconut milk and mix everything well together and simmer it for another 5-10 minutes.
10. Add spinach leaves to the curry and allow it to wilt for another 2 minutes and take the pan off the heat.
11. Add freshly chopped coriander leaves and stalks to garnish.
12. Serve the gravy as a hot accompaniment with the succulently cooked Chicken breasts for a healthy, scrumptious meal.

Additional Notes –

1. Chicken Stock adds quite a little depth to the curry and has loads of vital nutrients that are essential for our bones, body and brain. Although you can always substitute water instead if stock is unavailable.
2. The coconut milk adds a silky texture and balances out the spiciness from the chillies in the Ghee Roast Masala Paste.
3. Herbs are very rich in polyphenols, anti-oxidants and compounds that provides relief from chronic Inflammation. Hence add as much as herbs in your food while cooking it or as a garnish because not only they are nutrient loaded but also impart fantastic flavour to the food uplifting them to a different level altogether.
4. You can add or remove any vegetables to substitute but preferably not starchy ones in order to keep the meal healthier and of low carbohydrate content. Starch turns into sugar in your mouth due to an enzyme in your mouth called Hence ideally, it’s best to avoid consumption of starchy vegetables like potato, carrot, beetroot, corn etc on a daily basis, if you are looking to be on a low-carbohydrate diet.
5. Using extra virgin olive oil is of the utmost importance both from the flavour and healthy purpose because it’s the purest form of olive oil that’s extracted in cold-pressed manner.