Kashmiri Chicken

This chicken is simply amazing. The pungent and tangy blend of spices just makes my mouth water when I am making this. Also, I love recipes that use cinnamon sticks, not just because cinnamon is tasty, but also because I feel cool cooking with a whole cinnamon stick - it seems like something only a fancy chef would do. Anyhow, the spice blend in this recipe is excellent, probably because it is from the Complete Indian Cooking cookbook.

I think this would be great paired with a spinach salad with dried cranberries in it. I just ate it plain but I definitely think it would have benefited from something fresh along side.

Also, I used greek yogurt in this because I love how thick and tart it is but you could use regular yogurt just as well.

Kashmiri Chicken
3 Onions finely sliced
10 Peppercorns
10 Cardamoms
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 2-in long Piece Ginger finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced Garlic
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
2-3 teaspoons Paprika
3 lbs. Chicken Breasts cut into large pieces
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened Plain Greek Yogurt
Salt
Oil

Heat oil in frying pan until hot (on medium heat) and put in onions. Fry onions, with peppercorns, cardamoms, salt, and cinnamon stick, until the onions are golden brown. Add in the ginger, garlic, chili powder, paprika, and chicken and let the chicken briefly brown on both sides (about 2 minutes or so). Add in the yogurt and reduce heat to low; cook for about 30 minutes (for about half the cook time cover to conserve juices) or until the chicken it cooked through (no longer pink inside and the chicken will be firmer). Serve over rice. Makes enough to feed about 6 people.