Chicken And Lentil Curry

The picture makes this look like a korma but while it does include coconut milk and quite a bit of butter, it is actually a dal with some meat in it. John ate a similar thing when we went for a pre-Christmas curry at a scruffy (but tasty) South Indian restaurant in Charlotte St. I liked it so decided to give it a go myself.

Chicken And Lentil Curry (serves 4)
60g butter
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 green chillies, finely chopped
250g red lentils
1 pint of water
300 ml coconut milk
1 tsp salt
6 chicken thighs, cut into large chunks

1) Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the mustard seeds and when they start popping you can add the garlic, onion and ginger. When they are softened the the garlic is browned you can add the turmeric and chillies and continue cooking for another five minutes.
2) Stir in the turmeric and chillies and cook for two more minutes.
3) Add the water, coconut milk, salt and the chicken. Bring to the boil, then turn it down to simmer for 40 minutes. Now it is up to you how thick you want your sauce to be. Personally I prefer a thinner sauce for this as it gets really heavy if you allow it to reduce too much.

Rich and fragrant, I really like this curry. It's not hot at all and the flavour comes from the butter and coconut milk. It's quite a cheap dish too which is quite good.