Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

3 lb Chicken, skinned
4 Thai chile, whole dried
Cinnamon stick, 2"
1 1/2 ts Cumin, whole
2 ts Ginger, fresh
1 ts Garlic, finely crushed
15 Apricots, dried, pitted
6 tb Oil
2 Onion, large
2 tb Tomato paste
1 c Water
1 1/4 ts Salt
2 tb White malt vinegar
1 1/2 tb Sugar

-----------------------POTATO STRAWS----------------------------
Oil, for deep frying
1 Potato, large red, peeled
1 tb Salt

Approx. Cook Time: 4:00

Peel and cut the onions in half lengthwise, then cut them crosswise
into very fine half-rings. Mix tomato paste and water. Break up
cinnamon stick somewhat. Peel ginger and grate finely.

Cut the chicken into serving pieces. I say if you do it right, you
get 11 pieces: two wings, two drumsticks, two thighs, a back, two
breast halves, the pulleybone, and the giblets. This means cut it up
yourself, rather than leave it to some idiot with a meat saw at the
supermarket.

Put the chiles, cinnamon, cumin seeds, cardamom pods and cloves into a
spice grinder or coffee grinder and grind as fine as possible. If you
don't have a spice grinder, use a mortar and pestle and be prepared
to take forever getting the spices to the proper degree of powder.

Put the chicken in a large bowl, and add 1 t. of the ginger, 1/2 t.
of the garlic, and half the ground spices. Mix well with your hands,
rubbing the seasonings into the chicken. Set aside for 1 hour.

Put the apricots in a small pan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil.

Turn the heat down and simmer, uncovered, until the apricots are
tender but not mushy. When the apricots are tender, turn off the
heat and let the sit in their own juice.

When the chicken is through marinating, heat the 6 T. of oil in a wok
or very large, heavy skillet. When hot, put in the onions. Stir and
fry until they turn a rich, reddish-brown color. Turn the heat down
to medium and add the rest of the ginger and garlic. Stir once or
twice, and add the remaining ground spices. Stir once or twice and
put in all the chicken. Stir an brown the chicken lightly for 5
minutes. Now put in the tomato paste liquid and the salt. Bring to a
boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 20
minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar. Stir to mix. Cover again and
simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, and skim off a much
of the fat as possible.

Put the apricots into the pan with the chicken. If the apricots were
only sitting in about 2 or 3 tablespoons of liquid, put that in the
pan. If there is more liquid than that, discard the extra. Gently
slip the apricot in between the chicken pieces and let them soak in
the sauce for at least 3 minutes.

Make the potato straws: fill a large bowl with about 2 quarts of
water. Add the salt and mix. Grate the potato as coarsely as possible.

Put the potato into the bowl of water. Stir the potatoes around with
your hand. Now remove the potatoes from the water, a handful at a
time, squeezing out as much water as possible. Spread the potatoes on
a dish towel. Pat with paper towels to dry off as much moisture as
possible.

Pour vegetable oil into a wok or cast-iron frying pan to a depth of 2
inches. Heat over a low heat, and let the oil heat slowly. Don't try
to force it. When it is hot--this may be 10 minutes or so--put in a
smallish handful of the uncooked potato straws, which will begin to
bubble. When they stop bubbling, stir them until they are crisp and a
pale gold color. Remove with a wire spoon or slotted spoon and leave
to drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Continue and repeat
until all the potato is used. When ready to eat, put the chicken in a
warmed serving dish and garnish with the potato straws.

The Taste of India, Madhur Jaffrey

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