Kukhura ko Masu - Nepalese Chicken Curry

    Hey again!! I don't get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I used to, but that doesn't mean I've stopped cooking completely. Though we do eat a lot more Sam's Club chickens than ever before. So I made a goal to cook more interesting things again and decided to look into Nepalese food. 

    I had a math professor in college who was from Nepal, the class was really small and he was a foodie. I passed the class with an A, but I learned more about Nepali and Colombian food than I did about math. I mentioned this in a previous post about Aji de Gallina, the first Colombian dish she had me cook. And then, of course, we made arepas, and finally Bandeja Paisa, a delicious platter full of all kinds of goodies. 

     One of the dishes my professor talked about was Momo's, stuffed dumplings, that are eaten all over Nepal. I can't say I have a recipe for those for you yet, but Aldi had a frozen version and I was curious. And it turns out they are pretty good, so I grabbed a few more bags and saved them until I could make a whole dinner of it. 

     And it turned out delicious. I found an amazing recipe on YouTube via Rita's Cooking and got to it. The chicken curry really tasted more like Harrira and Moroccan food than Indian food, which is what I was expecting. It has a lot of tomatoes and cumin, and the fried onions gave it a bit of sweetness that was delightful. It was great over rice and would be great in a wrap the next day. 

Kukhura Ko Masu Recipe

Paste

1 Tbsp. Cumin powder

1 Tbsp. Coriander powder

1 Tbsp. Paprika

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/4 c. water

Spice Mix

1 Tbsp. Cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

5 Cardamom pods

1/2 inch piece of cinnamon 

2 cloves

1/2 tsp. black pepper, crushed

1 bulb garlic, at least 10 whole cloves, peeled but left whole

1/4 c. oil

3 chicken breast, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

1 Tbsp. ginger paste

3 tomatoes, chopped

3 chicken bouillon cubes

1 Tbsp. Nepalese curry mix

1 jalapeno, sliced

Fresh cilantro to garnish

Rice

Directions

Combine all the spices and the water for the paste mix and set aside. 

Heat 1/4 c. oil in a large pan. Once it's hot add everything in the spice mix, including the garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the spices are toasted, about 4-5 minutes. 

Add the sliced onion and continue cooking, over medium-high heat, until the onion is browned. Add the ginger paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the spice paste you made first and cook until it's bubbly and thick. 

Add the chopped tomatoes, bouillon cubes, and half cup of water. Cook for 7 minutes. Add the curry mix and stir to mix in. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the garlic cloves and large tomato chunks. 

Add the sliced chicken and stir to coat. Simmer on medium until the chicken is tender, stirring occasionally. 

Taste and adjust for salt, adding more as needed. Top with fresh cilantro and serve with rice (and momos!)