“Healthy” Chicken Korma

Or my version of it. Love the creamy nutty flavor of the sauce. And these white sweet potatoes are growing on me. I bought one by accident once and I really like how they are the perfect balance between white potatoes and sweet potatoes. One, they’re healthier than white potatoes… but they also have a denser, drier texture than sweet potatoes. Mushy sweet potatoes are no bueno, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem with its paler cousin.

This was totally a throw together after work kind of meal. Since I made it up as I went, I’ll have to clean up this recipe in the future when I try it again….Curry is hard to mess up though. Creative liberty is encouraged (:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 chicken thighs, yields ~1.5 cups cubed
• 1 large white sweet potato
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp whole coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbs curry powder
• ~3/4 cup greek yogurt
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup roasted salted pistachios
• 1/4 cup cashews
• optional: 2 tbs ghee
• frying oil
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preparation: Cut chicken in to 1.5 inch cubes. Cut sweet potato into 1 inch cubes. Grind nuts in a blender to a fine powder.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine all spices and half the ground nuts. Add chicken and yogurt. Mix and coat evenly. Set aside and marinate (do this ahead of time if you’d like. I did not marinate longer than 30 min and it was fine.)
3. In a 3.5qt dutch oven or pot, heat oil over high heat. Add onions, salt generously, and saute until soft and caramelized (~15min or so. Add a dash of chicken stock to speed up the softening processes).
4. Add chicken and more oil if the pot is dry (or ghee if you have it). Stir often and let chicken brown for 5 min.
5. Add chicken stock, deglaze bottom of the pan, and let it come to a boil. Add sweet potatoes and the rest of the nut mixture. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 30 min. Optional: add 1-2 tsp corn starch to some cold water, stir to dissolve, and pour into curry to let it thicken.
6. Add raisins, continue to simmer 10 min or until potatoes are fork tender.
7. Serve over rice, with naan, or if you’re trying to be healthy like me, over a big bowl of steamed broccoli. (: