Cashew Sesame and Coconut Chicken Curry

One day, I suddenly felt like cooking chicken with sesame seeds. Don’t ask me why. :)

I bought sesame seeds and started cooking the chicken curry on a Sunday. As I started the preparations, ideas kept popping up in my mind and I came up with the below recipe. Chicken curry was awesome. It almost tasted like yellow curry. Well, the Indian version though..! :)

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 Pound/ ½ Kg

Thick Curd – 4 tbsp.

Cashews – 2 tbsp.

Sesame Seeds – 1 ½ tbsp.

Coconut Flakes – ¾ tbsp.

Onions – 2 ½ to 3 cups, finely chopped

Tomatoes (optional)– 1 ½ cups, finely chopped

Cilantro/ Coriander Leaves – ¾ cup, chopped

Mint Leaves – ¼ cup, chopped

Curry Leaves – 5 to 6 leaves

Green Chilies – 3

Dhanya Jeera powder – ½ tsp.

Chili Powder – ½ tsp.

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp.

Ground Pepper powder – ¾ tsp.

Garam masala – ¼ tsp.

Curry powder – ¼ tsp.

Chat Masala – 1 tsp.

Tandoori Chicken masala – 1 tsp. (optional)

Mustard Oil – 3 tbsp.

Salt – To taste

Water – 1 to 2 cups

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and cut it into small to medium pieces.

2. Marinate the chicken with curd, chili powder, dhanya jeera powder, ground pepper, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Keep aside till needed.

3. Make a paste of sesame seeds, cashews and coconut flakes.

4. In a wok, put the mustard oil and add cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add green chilies and curry leaves. Now add the finely chopped onion and saute till it caramelizes or becomes dark golden brown in color (well done).

5. Once the onions are ready, add the chopped tomatoes. Let the gravy cook till it loses all the water and becomes thick.

     Note: you could skip this step and follow the next step directly.

6. Add the sesame, cashew and coconut paste; water to the gravy and bring it to a boil.

7. Now add the marinated chicken in to the gravy. Add mint leaves too. 

     

     Put in chat masala and tandoori chicken masala (Optional).

8. Cook until the chicken pieces become tender.

9. Add cilantro and salt towards the end.

10. Mix well and turn off the flame when chicken pieces are completely done.

11. Serve hot with either rice or roti.