Topic: Chicken Delhi, know oif it or how to cook it

[tripper]

Hello all,
Has anyone heard of a chicken Delhi, They used to serve it in my local Curry house but since changing chefs they have taken it off the menu. It used to be one of the most popular dishes they had but now they don't do it anymore, must be something to do with the Chef taking his secret recipe away with him.

The dish itself was similar consistency as a korma, quite light in colour and creamy. It had a lot of Garlic in it which was cut into thin waffers from the clove. It also contained whole green chillis and had quite a kick to it .
I seem to remember it had  a sweat taste to it and I am sure it had a coconut there but am not certain. Its been a while since I have had it and would really like to get my hands on a recipe.
I presume the sauce had some sort of cream in it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Tripper

[Curry King]

Hi Tripper,

I had a quick look round and it seems like a Chicken Delhi is an authentic dish similar to a korma with rice:

http://www.hungrymoose.com/recipes/chicken_delhi.html

http://www.recipezaar.com/170698

The chef that made it may have come up with a BIR version of his own based on the orginal recipe.  You could just try having a stab at recreating it yourself as you know some of the ingredients, theres a restaurant near me that does a perfect Korai and i'm sure thats a chefs special as everywhere else i've had one doesn't come close!

[Ashes]

Found this, but it doesnt sound half as interesting as your description Tripper. Sounds like the chef has done his own variation of a traditional dish. This is a shame as Chicken Deli restaurant styley sounds awesome.

http://www.recipezaar.com/170698

The half and half refers to half milk + half cream, which is also as it happens used in (some) indian teas (recent thread). As H+H sounds traditional it wouldnt surprise me to find it in BIR recipes too. Probably korma type curries.

Regards Ashes

[tripper]

Thanks guys,

I am guessing maybe that it was the chefs own dish and maybe he came from Delhi or his family did... not sure?

I think I will start off by perfecting my korma sauce, being a lover of hoter curries its not something I have ever made. I am sure that because it was a BIR dish that they had to use the same as a korma base to save time.
The chicken was red so they must have marinated them in Tikka spices before hand.

I think my plan will be marinate the chicken with some spices and fry them up in the tikka base. Then remove from the pan.
Then go ahead and fry all the chillis and garlic in a with some spices( not too sure what yet...any suggestions). Add a small ammount of the korma sauce so it absorbs the heat then add the rest of the korma sauce along with the chicken. leave the chicken to cook through.
Things to note:
 The tikka on the chicken never actually coloured the sauce. The sauce stayed ceamy white. Also there were no whole onions in the dish and also no peppers tomatoes etc.
The only whole things were the chillis, garlic waffers, and the tikka chicken along with the creamy sauce. I am also sure that I could feel the texture of the coconut in there, is that something you would get from the korma base.
Do you think that frying the chillis with a bit of the Korma sauce will be enough to give the dish a big kick or do you thik it would something more need more.
I think I'll have to try it out on my mates and see what they think as they have had it quite a few times from the BIR, they were also sad to see it go.

Any suggestions please, on other ways I can go about it.
Thanks
Tripper 

[Yellow Fingers]

The sauce stayed ceamy white...

Any suggestions please, on other ways I can go about it.

I can make a suggestion, but it's more of a hindrance than a help. If you try to make the curry with a base sauce as is usual for restaurant curries, it's not going to turn out creamy white in colour. All of the base sauces are universally brown to a lesser or greater degree, which means the final dish always ends up a shade of brown unless food colouring is used.

This suggests that the usual base sauce isn't used in this one. There was a post, which I can't find, that described a korma paste which I would think would be likely to be used in this one.

YF

[tripper]

If you look at some of the recipes for a korma a few use the base in recipe along with the a lot of cream and h and h. I know though when i have seen a korma they are most of the time pale in colour. I think a ladle or half a ladle is what i have seen.
I'll have to look at a few recipes.

[tripper]

This is a korma recipe I have found, this contains the base sauce and other ingrediants which are in the Delhi. I'll give this a go but try and pep it upa  bit with the chillis and chickin tikka. Maybe the colour was a bit off yellow and I can't remember.

Thanks for dave3310 for the recipe.  from an old post.



Here's one to try......

Here?s a recipe for Chicken Korma.... Personally I?m not a korma fan, but everyone I cook it for
reckons it?s spot on...
Serves One



4 tablespoons Veg Oil
1 clove Garlic (crushed and chopped)
1 teaspoon Spice Mix
3 pinches Salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons Base Sauce
1 tablespoon Coconut Powder
1 tablespoon Ground Almonds
1 portion Chicken (pre cooked)
4 tablespoons Single Cream
0.5 teaspoon Turmeric
Fresh Coriander



1.  Heat oil then add garlic.  When sizzling well add spice mix, salt and sugar.

2.  Stir fry for a few seconds before adding base sauce.

3.  Keep stirring and add the coconut and ground almonds.

4.  Add the cooked chicken and simmer for 2 minutes.

5.  Add the single cream and turmeric and stir well.

6.  When chicken is thoroughly heated through add chopped coriander and serve.

[CurryCanuck]

The format of this recipe seems to be more pseudo-authentic than BIR...but thats OK...it's a good un !
But just as an addendum...which spice mix and which base sauce would you suggest ? The two former would influence this dish immensely . Attention to detail is imperative when attempting to re-create " the taste " .

CC

[tripper]

I would use the spice mix and base that dave3310 used for his recipe as a starter and then work from there. He said that he had posted it previously.
Not too sure at what point to slip those green chillis in the though for maximum effect? I think maybe after I have added the base sauce just before adding the almonds and coconut...any suggestions. I suppose the secret is trying to get as much heat in as possible.

Managed to pick myself up a really good pestle and mortar from the charity shop for only ?3, had a look in kitchen shop and they were more like ?30, really chuffed with that!!

I'll let you know how I get on with the recipe.
Cheers
Tripp

[CurryCanuck]

Cheers