Afghan Adventures

It was the middle of January and the mild weather was slowly giving way to some Tundra type frosts. In order to prove that the January Blues were a mere urban myth we had booked to spend a long weekend in North Yorkshire. It was a weekend that was memorable, spontaneous and full of winter sun. On the Saturday evening of the trip we went a-wandering to downtown Pickering and stumbled upon a wonderful curry house for our evening meal. It seemed that anybody who was anybody in the village was there and I enjoyed an excellent Afghan Curry. It was, in fact, one of the best curries I had ever tasted. A link to the site of this tasteful restaurant is at: Noyon | 7 Eastgate, Pickering, YO18 7DU | 01751476969 / 01751477039 | (noyonindian.co.uk) 

A weekend later, with time on my hands due to the Dogg and I not wanting to walk far in the cold Sunday ice, I decided to make my own version of this curry. 

The ingredients were as follows:

Two Chicken Breasts cut into small cubes and supplied by the ever wonderful Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook 

Two tablespoons of dried coriander. 

Two tablespoons of dried mint.

Two teaspoons of dried Cumin.

Five crushed cloves of Garlic

Four Tablespoons of Coconut Oil.

Two teaspoons of Garlic Salt

Half a teaspoon of Black Pepper.

One well-diced Red Onion. 

A tin of chopped Tomatoes.

A tin of Kidney Beans in Chilli Sauce. 

One Vegetable Stock Cube

On the player was Sinatra, Frank Sinatra. On this particular release from 1968, he and Duke Ellington teamed up and travelled incognito by calling the record "Francis A and Edward K" being their first names and middle initials. The record finds the pair in the early Autumn, in the case of Sinatra, and the winter, in the case of Ellington, of their careers. They however handle the excellent choice of material assuredly to create an engaging album. 

So to the method of this dish, it goes like this:

1. Put half the Coriander, Cumin, Mint, Garlic Salt Coconut Oil and one of the Garlic Cloves into a bowl with the Chicken Pieces. Mix the ingredients well together, cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a cool place for a couple of hours to allow the mixture to marinate. 

2. When the marinated chicken is ready add to a Le Cresceut or large, deep frying pan with some melted butter. 

3. Fry together with the red onion on a medium heat for around twenty minutes then add the rest of the herbs and spices, Coconut Oil and half the chopped tomatoes before stirring them together and cooking for another fifteen minutes. 

4. Add the vegetable stock cube and the other half of the Chopped Tomatoes and mix together keeping the heat at just below medium for another twenty minutes.

5. Add the rest of the Garlic and the Red Kidney Beans and stir thoroughly while keeping a medium heat to ensure everything is cooked and blended together. After fifteen minutes of doing this the flavours should be blended and the dish ready to serve. 

On this occasion I served the dish with Rice that was mixed with Cardamom pods. The unique part of this curry is that the mint gives it a fresh flavour that contrasts with the spices to ensure it is strong tasting but has a rich creaminess behind the initial strong taste. It was a flavoursome replication of a meal that was part of a wonderful, memorable weekend.