Fijian chicken curry

Tamara West

I love the Fijian-Indian style of curries as they are tomato based and not too creamy. Plantains are a large starchy green banana similar in texture to potato when cooked. You can also use under-ripe bananas, which will be slightly sweeter. If the idea of banana in the curry doesn’t appeal to you, simply use chopped cubes of potatoes in its place.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp	Oil, peanut, canola or soy
1	Onion, sliced
3 cloves	Garlic, crushed
1 tsp	Black mustard seeds
1 tsp	Ground cumin
1 tsp	Ground turmeric
½ tsp	Ground chilli
2 Tbsp	Garam masala
1 inch	Fresh ginger, finely grated
8	Curry leaves
2	Eggplants, long Fijian eggplants or 1/2 large eggplant
1	Plantain, large, or 2 under-ripe green bananas, skin peeled with a small sharp knife, sliced, or 2 medium potatoes, cut into 2-3cm cubes
1 can	Crushed tomatoes
¾ cup	Coconut milk, mixed with 1/2 cup water
8	Boneless chicken thighs, skinless, quartered (Main)
2	Tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch	Coriander, chopped, to serve
1	Lime, cut into wedges to serve

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large heavy-based fry pan or saucepan on medium heat. Cook onion until golden, 4-5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, chilli, garam masala and ginger and continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes until fragrant and mustard seeds are starting to pop.
3. Add a splash of water during cooking if needed to prevent them sticking to bottom of pan and burning.
4. Add curry leaves, eggplant, plantain/banana or potatoes, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, water and a good pinch of salt.
5. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until eggplant and plantain/potato is soft and cooked through.
6. Add chicken and tomatoes in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking and continue simmering until chicken is cooked through.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. To serve, garnish curry with coriander and serve with rice and cucumber as a shared meal.
9. Squeeze over lime juice just before eating.