Almond Chicken with a Yogurt Mint Sauce

When the boy's mom came for a visit a couple of weeks ago, she brought with her a giant home-grown chicken. Rather than roasting the entire gigantic chicken whole, I decided to cut it up and turn it into a curry. You could also scale this recipe down and just make it with a couple of thighs or breasts. The end result was a mild curry with moist chicken. My chicken was gigantic so the cooking time was quite a bit longer than the recipe states.

One year ago: Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Berries

Almond Chicken with a Yogurt Mint Sauce (from 660 Curries)

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup slivered almonds
8 large garlic cloves
3 slices ginger (2" long, 1" wide, 1/8" thick)
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp black or yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 chicken, skin removed and cut into 8 pieces
2 tbsp canola oil
1 medium red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup firmly packed mint leaves, finely chopped

1. Pour yogurt into blender and add almonds, garlic, and ginger. Puree. Pour into medium bowl.
2. Combine coriander, mustard, and fennel in spice grinder. Pulverize until finely ground.
3. Pour spice blend into yogurt along with salt, cayenne, and cilantro. Add chicken to marinade and coat. Marinade at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Brown chicken in skillet, reserving marinade for later, and set aside.
5. Add onion and bay leaves to skillet and scrape browned bits in pan.
6. Pour 1/2 cup water into skillet along with reserved marinade. Bring to a boil.
7. Return chicken to skillet and pile onion on top of chicken.
8. Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, basting until chicken is cooked through, 15 - 20 minutes.
9. Transfer chicken to serving platter. Stir mint into sauce. Reduce if needed. Pour over chicken and serve.