Chicken Mangalorean

This recipe is a keeper! It's very spicy. This is the first time I have attempted to use whole spices in an Indian curry. You just have to remember to pick them out at the end (especially the cinnamon stick cardamom pods and whole cloves) so that no one chips a tooth!

This recipe comes from Food Network.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic

1 (1 1/2 inch) piece ginger root

2 1/2 tsp oil, divided

2 onions, finely diced

2 tomatoes chopped

1 (4-inch) cinnamon stick broken in half

6 cardamom pods

10 whole cloves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 2 inch pieces

1/2 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk

1/2 cup water

1 tsp black mustard seeds

4 to 5 dried red chiles (I substituted 1 tsp of chili pepper flakes for each dried red chile)

15-20 curry leaves

Directions
Combine the garlic and ginger with about 1 tbsp of water in a small food processor and process to a paste. Set aside.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger paste, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin, coriander, turmeric and salt. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken and stir. Cook 15 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and water. Cover and cook 10 minutes (Adrienne's note: For this 10-minute period, I would turn the heat down to low, because the coconut milk and the tomatoes and spices created a really nice creamy pink sauce initially that I would like to keep. Cooking during this 10-minute period on medium-high heat broke the sauce and resulted in more of an oily and spicy-- but good-- sauce.)

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil in a skillet over high heat until very hot. Add the mustard seeds (be careful- they 'll pop out of the skiller), chiles, and curry leaves. The oil should be hot enough so the curry leaves crackle and turn black right away. The chiles should also turn black. Cook no more than 3 minutes. Pour this mixture into the chicken. Simmer 5 minutes longer and serve.