Topic: Chicken Ceylon with Home Made Naans

[Naga]

As long-term forum members will be aware, I am a great advocate of the Ceylon Curry. I just had to have some again last night with some home made naan bread.

[livo]

My wife was an exchange student to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in her last year of school back in 1986 and I met her not long after she returned. We have been eating Sri Lankan Curry ever since.  We now have 2 copies of "A Taste of Sri Lanka"  by Indra Jayasekera as we inherited her father's copy when he passed away.  I'd be interested in the ingredients of your Ceylon dish to see if it is a close match to any chicken dish in this book.  It could be similar to the Chicken Badun or the Kukul Mas.

[Naga]

I can't lay any claim to this Chicken Ceylon recipe as it was published on the forum by a former member, nor can I vouch for it's authenticity. But I can vouch for it's flavour - it's a family favourite!

I don't use the spiced oil - it's too much of a faff for me. I did try it out when I came across the recipe at first, but it didn't add enough to the dish to encourage it's continued use.

I'd be interested to hear about any comparisons with similar recipes from the book you mention. I'm always on the lookout for the next tasty dish to prepare!

[livo]

It is difficult to say Naga because the recipe you make, as posted, uses a lot of pre-made ingredients. Without going into analysis of each of these an exact match wont happen, However, based on the facts that it has Tomato, Lemon Juice and Coconut, it would appear to be a fair match to the book dish titled Kukul Mus Thakkali (chicken and tomato curry). A noticeable difference is the absence of sugar but you could use some jaggery or brown sugar if desired.

Edited: I just realised that another difference is the near complete lack of onion. Other than 50 g shallots there is no onion in the Sri Lankan dish. I guess there isn't a whole lot of onion in only 300 ml of Base Gravy in the Ceylon dish so possibly not that significant.

Ingredient list follows.  The chicken is marinated in the spices and vinegar for 20 minutes and then it's all cooked in the traditional curry method. Hot oil, aromatics / veggies, followed by tomatoes, then the marinated and spiced chicken pieces. After 5 minutes add the coconut milk, boil then simmer till cooked through. Probably  20 minutes to 1/2 an hour being on the bone.  Garnish and serve.

Ingredients.
1.3 kg chicken washed and jointed.
3 Tomatoes
50 g Shallots
1 fresh chilli
3 slices ginger
2 cloves garlic (garlic and ginger ground to a paste)
3 cardamoms (ground)
2 cloves (ground)
1 tsp chilli powder
1 cm cinnamon stick (my comment; very small amount and the method doesn't mention where to use it.  Possibly ground)
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
3 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp fenugreek ( I'm assuming seed but could be leaf)
2 tsp brown vinegar (quite a small amount to cover 1.3 kg of chicken as a marinade. May need a bit more. Possibly meant to be TBSP)
75 ml oil
sprig of curry leaves
1/2 stem of lemon grass
300 ml thick and thin coconut milk (I'm assuming it's 300 ml total but not sure)
a sprinkle of curry powder to finish (could probably use a GM or Kitchen King or Tandoori Masala)
juice of 1/2 lime prior to serving.

The dish you make is clearly a BIR dish, as you'd expect, but it is usually possible to convert traditional curry into BIR method by ingredient analysis and substitution.  I've done it with several dishes and the side by side test end results are quite similar.

I'll have to give the Ceylon a try sinces you recommend it as your family favourite. At the moment our favourite dish is the Lamb Korma Balti.  That is the good wife and myself. If I tell Mrs L it's a Sri Lankan curry she'll be in.

[Naga]

Ingredient list follows...At the moment our favourite dish is the Lamb Korma Balti.

Many thanks for that livo. I'll give this recipe a bash over the next couple of weeks - I always like to try something new. And thanks for the reminder about your Lamb Korma Balti as it had slipped my mind. It's on the list of things-to-do (again!).

If I tell Mrs L it's a Sri Lankan curry she'll be in.

[livo]

Naga, when you cook this dish do you use the specified curry base, curry masala and tandoori masala?  These are not so critical to me as I'll use what I have here.
However, more importantly though, do you use the Spiced Oil?  I've read all about it and while some have insisted on it's necessity, others dismiss it as unnecessary mucking about.  I'm not about to go making a batch of onion bhajis just so I can get some spiced oil. 

250 ml of oil went into the Saffron Base and another 100 ml into the pre-cooked chicken covering sauce.  I'd think this would be enough oil in  both quantity and flavour.

Edit: So as not to hijack or derail this thread I'll discuss "Spiced oil" elsewhere.

[Naga]

I don't use the spiced oil - it's too much of a faff for me. I did try it out when I came across the recipe at first, but it didn't add enough to the dish to encourage it's continued use.

As with most recipes, I adapt them to suit my own circumstances (and the contents of my store cupboard!).

For what it's worth, here's the ingredients list to serve 2 with my italicised substitutions in square brackets, where appropriate:

Ingredients

300g skinless chicken breast [14-16 pieces of pre-poached chicken breast]
75 ml spiced oil [a large glug of sunflower oil]
1 tsp fresh garlic (pureed) and 0.5 tsp fresh ginger (pureed) [2 heaped tsp Ashoka Garlic/Ginger paste]
1 tbsp tomato paste (diluted to a puree with 3 tbsp water)
300ml curry base [450ml JB's Base Gravy (I use 1 large bulb of garlic for the final tarka)]
1 tsp curry masala [1 tsp Abdul Mohed's 8-Spice Mix Powder]
1 tsp curry powder [1 tsp East End Mild Madras Curry Powder]
1 tsp chilli powder
0.25 tsp tandoori masala [0.5 tsp Pat Chapman's Tandoori Masala]
0.5 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice [a couple of good squirts of lemon juice or lemon dressing, whatever's to hand]
3 tbsp coconut powder (dissolved in a little water to make a paste)
fresh chopped coriander (to taste)
fresh chillies (optional) [1 or 2 green chillies, left whole]

Hope this helps!

[livo]

Thanks. I did read that before. Oh well. Head too full at the moment. I've cooked a Base and Chicken but been too busy to make a curry plus nobody home to eat. Maybe tomorrow if everything stays calm. Wife's land cruiser blew it's alternator today so tomorrow could be a dirty day.

[livo]

This has now become a family favourite here too Naga.     This curry is a real treat of sweet and sour flavours with the hint of coconut and bite of chilli,  Delicious!!!  It is definitely one I'll be making again. I used the Saffron Base and Jaggery instead of sugar but everything else was pretty much to spec except for brand or type of mixed powders.  I imagine this dish is one that will really deliver a customisable dish in terms of chilli heat. It could very easily be made mild for the kids and have a real kick for the hot heads.

I also used the same naan recipe again and can't recommend it highly enough.  I actually made the dough 4 days ago and it has sat in the fridge. I cooked 2 naan on the tawa without even bothering to try to get them to stick. I just flipped them. Even with this rough treatment the bread was delicious.

I also cooked the SnS (Saffron Base) Chicken Madras. I'll post about that on the relevant thread.

[Naga]

I imagine this dish is one that will really deliver a customisable dish in terms of chilli heat. It could very easily be made mild for the kids and have a real kick for the hot heads...

...I also used the same naan recipe again and can't recommend it highly enough.  I actually made the dough 4 days ago and it has sat in the fridge. I cooked 2 naan on the tawa without even bothering to try to get them to stick. I just flipped them. Even with this rough treatment the bread was delicious.

You're spot on on both counts, livo. That Ceylon Chicken of mine was frozen from a dinner party a couple of weekends ago, as were the naan doughballs. Last night, I liberated the frozen leftovers of my go-to Chicken Dopiaza by Domi (also from the said dinner party!) together with the last frozen naan doughball. The curries were delicious (of course lol!) and the naans were as good as the original fresh breads - and, as previously stated, they were cooked on a non-stick Tefal crepe pan. As you say, no trying to get them to stick, just flip them over and add more melted butter and some coriander leaf before serving. Good to go!