Recipe to make kadai chicken gravy:

Preparation:

• Cut one big onion into cubes.
• Rinse and cut capsicum into cubes.
• Chop another big onion finely.
• Grind tomatoes and soaked cashew nuts into a puree.
• Wash chicken pieces and keep aside.

How to make kadai masala powder:

• Dry roast coriander seeds, redchillies, pepper corns, cumin seeds.
• Let the mix cool down.
• Take them in a blender jar, add garam masala, grind them into fine powder as shown.
• Kadai masala is ready.

How to make kadai chicken gravy:

• As a first step, in a pan saute capsicum and onion cubes for two mins until they turn transparent. Do not over fry or over cook them to make them soft. The vegetables should retain the crunchiness. Keep them aside.
• Heat a kadai with oil or ghee. Add finely chopped onions and roast them until golden brown color achieved.
• Stir continuously and add ginger garlic paste. Saute well to remove the raw flavor.
• Now add the freshly ground kadai masala powder and mix.
• Add pasted tomatoes and stir well.
• Cook the tomato-cashew paste until oil releases on top with the onions and kadai masala. In any gravy, cooking tomatoes and onions nicely is a very important step. Never add onion and tomato together as both have different cooking temperature. Always cook onion first and add tomato next, make sure to cook well.
• As optional step, you can add ½ tsp of chilli powder. Be careful with this as we have already added red chillies and pepper in the kadai masala. You can omit if you like mildly spiced gravy.
• Now add chicken pieces, mix with the masala. Close with lid for five mins.
• In five minutes the chicken pieces absorb the masala and spices. Now add half to one cup of water and close the lid, cook chicken for ten minutes.
• Add salt, mix with masala.
• Now add the crunchily sautéed onion and capsicum cubes.
• Finally add fresh cream. Make homemade cream instantly by whisking a tsp of the top layer( malai) of boiled milk. Collect the malai whenever you boil milk, store in a tight container in fridge and use as fresh cream for gravies.
• Crush kasturi methi and add. Mix with masala.
• Switch off. Serve kadai chicken gravy with roti, naan, chapati, jeera rice or with egg biryani.
• You can garnish with one tsp of ghee/butter, ginger&greenchilly julienne pieces