Kate : Raita and Chutney

loved this Elaine. Greg and I are Indian food addicts and at the moment we or I should say he is cooking one once a week. So I cant take all the credit for this. Greg made the Jhal Frezi and I did the raitas and chutney.
I made the tomato, the spinach and the green chutney. I loved how quick they all were and they balance a robust curry perfectly. I think the tomato was my favourite followed by the spinach. The green chutney I wasnt so sure about. I think I was expecting more of a coriander flavour I would probably up the coriander next time and the lemon juice, just to loosen it a bit more.


The Jhal frezi is an old favourite of ours, my dad gave Greg the recipe and I think its from Madhur Jafrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. Its a real crowd pleaser if you are ever thinking of Indian food for guests. It freezes superbly and tastes better second time around.

Murghi Jhal Frezi
1kg chicken joints
3 large onions, finely chopped
175ml water
1 inch cube of root ginger, peeled and grated
2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp of each ground coriander, ground cumin and ground caraway
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 black cardamon pods, split at the top
4 whole cloves
5 tbsp cooking oil
1+1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp tomato puree
1-2 fresh green chillies, sliced lengthways and seeds removed for a milder flavour
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Skin and cut each joint up into seperate parts, wash and dry on absorbant paper.
Put chicken in a saucepan, add half the chopped onions, water, ginger, garlic and all the other spices except the fresh chilli and the coriander leaves. Bring to the boil mix thoroughly. Cover and simmer for 25 mins
In separate pan heat the oil over medium heat and fry the rest of the onions until they are golden brown.
remove each peice of chicken with a pair of tongs and add to the onions, fry unitl the chicken has browned, still over a medium heat.
Add half the spiced liquieid that the chicken was cooked in and stir anf fry for 4-5 mins. Add the rest of the liquid and fry for a further 5 mins.
Add salt, tomato puree, green chillies and coriander leaves, stir on a low heat for 5-6 mins and remove from heat.

We normally double the spice quantities.