There must be like a million ways to cook chicken and to be honest, I often get bored of a basic chicken curry. I keep trying to add twists here and there with my spices (or fruit in this case) to create a chicken-licous dish which does not belong to the curry sisterhood! This mango-chicken recipe is not your typical curry with loads of gravy but some may argue that it looks like a ‘bhuna’. Well, it’s not a bhuna but you can eat it with rice/bread so we meet halfway :P.

The tricky part of this dish is to let the mango be just as important as the chicken which is why there will be a mango marinade and also cooking the chicken in a mango sauce.

What you need: 

Chicken thigh fillets diced ( 250g)

Mango (1 whole; ready to eat but on the raw side)

Onion (1)

Bell pepper ( 1)

Tomatoes (2)

Garlic (3cloves)

Ginger (1.5inch root)

curry leaves (2-3)

Salt ( 2-3tsp)

Red chilli powder (1tsp)

Paprika powder (2 tsp)

Cumin powder (1/2tsp)

Coriander seeds (1/2tsp)

Cumin seeds ( 1/2tsp)

Brown sugar (1tsp)

Tomato puree (2tbsp)

Mustard oil ( 3tbsp)

Fresh coriander ( as much as you like)

Chillies ( 2-3)

I like breaking up my recipes in parts to make it easier to understand and also to write  (mostly the latter :P).

Part 1: 

So, the first step would be to prepare the marinade. Blitz half the mango into a fine pulp texture, add the chili powder, cumin, 1/2tsp salt and the lemon juice. Mix the spices well with the mango pulp and soak your chicken pieces. I would leave it to marinade for about 15-20minutes but it will taste so much better if left overnight.

Part 2: 

Step 1: Now, blend the onion, tomatoes, garlic, half of the remaining mango and paprika powder. This is the base or the sauce of your dish.

Step 2: Heat the mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan, add the coriander and cumin seeds, along with the curry leaves and slivers of ginger. Once the seeds start popping (not browning), add your sauce. the sauce needs to be cooked down really well to get rid of the raw onion-ness. Add the chili powder and salt, and cook it on high for 5 minutes. Leave it on med-low heat for 8-10 minutes.

Step 3: After about 10 minutes, whack up the heat, add your bell pepper and chicken along with marinade juice. Fry this up, ensuring to coat the chicken in the sauce for 5-8 minutes. You may need to add a spritz of water to prevent the chicken or the sauce from sticking to the pan ( or burning).  Add the garam masala, brown sugar and tomato puree, when you see the sauce has reduced and the chicken is well coated. Cook this for another 10 minutes in the med-high heat.

Step 4: Finally, stir in your last bits of tiny chopped mangoes to the chicken. At this point, you can add about 1/2 cup of water (and cook it for another 5 mins) if you want the sauce to thin out. Or you can just let it be sticky chicken pieces coated in mangoey goodness! Finish off with fresh chopped coriander and chilies.

 Enjoy it with some plain white rice! (Rice is life…well it is if you are Bengali and not counting calories) 

PS: I would love to know if you try out this recipe! Please leave a comment below the post and also head to my instagram @reemis.kitchen for more foodie goodness!