This ultra-low fat chicken, dill and chickpea curry deploys mustard and all of its related flavours—mustard seeds, dill and horseradish—together to optimum flavour effect with minimal fat. It also contains a plethora of other vegetables making it highly nutritious.
Dill we meet again
This is a curious Indian Diasporan dish from South Africa's eastern seaboard. For one thing, it's very much about mustard and mustard-like flavours rather than chillies— and there's not a curry leaf in sight. With key flavours of yellow mustard seeds, dill and creamed horseradish it would actually be more accurate to describe this as a "peppery" dish rather than a curry. And it appears to originated from within the Parsi minority among South African Indian cultures with their own specific culinary culture.
My dad and I had our own culinary collusion. He'd cook dishes—such as this one—that we loved, after he'd done something more "crowd pleasing" for my mother and younger siblings who preferred sweeter tastes. I preferred my father's penchant for bitterness in more ways than one...
There are actually very few Indian main courses that use dill as a lead herb. On the whole, dill in Indian cuisine is relegated to being a side dish. Here, it's at the heart of the dish.
It also means you can use the basic initial veggie curry as something you can easily freeze, reheat and to which you can add other additional ingredients at a later stage without losing the "layered" cooking of a dish in which different vegetables are cooked to optimum taste.
This dish uses a spice mix very similar to tikka masala and tends to be on the mild side of "medium". Obviously you can add more chillies—or cayenne—to your spice mix if you want to make it intrinsically spicier. Or you can do what I'm doing here and serve it with a fiery sambal. That way, those who want heat can simply add it, making it ideal for serving to groups of mixed preferences where spiciness is concerned.
This recipe serves 3 to 4 diners. Scale up as needed, but never scale down. Simply refrigerate or freeze and enjoy it another day.
Cooked with these ingredients at these quantities, it comes in at approximately 3g of fat per standard portion.
Shopping list
for the ultra-low fat chicken, dill and chickpea curry
1 to 1.5 skinless chicken breasts (or deboned skinless thighs) per diner, cut into fairly large "bite-size" pieces
1 tspn garam masala
2 tspns turmeric
1 large red onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced vertically
the juice and pulp of 1 fresh lime
3 tspns garlic and ginger paste
1 tbspn peanut oil
A generous clutch of fresh dill, washed and leaves and smaller stems hand-plucked from main stems—at least 50g
3 tspns yellow mustard seeds
2 tspns creamed horseradish
6 or 7 medium celery stalks, washed and finely sliced
6 to 8 green cardamom pods, gently cracked
1 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes (not plum tomatoes) or fresh equivalent
1 x 400g tinned chickpeas (or dried, boiled and drained equivalent)
Approx. 50g finely chopped spinach, fresh or defrosted (not tinned)
The spice paste
If you're making it from scratch:
5 cloves of garlic
1 large "finger" of ginger, roughly chopped
½ tbspn peanut oil
1 hot fresh red chilli, deseeded, chopped
1 tspn amchoor (mango powder)
2 tspns ground cumin
2 tspns ground coriander
1 tspn paprika
1 tspn garam masala
½ tspn fennel seeds
½ tspn ground dried fennel
½ tspn hot chilli powder
1 tspn ground black pepper
½ tspn cayenne pepper
The juice of 1 lime
NB: this spice mix is very similar to a classic tikka masala paste. If you don't want to make it from scratch, I suggest buying a readymade tikka masala paste and adding the amchoor. Use about 5 to 6 tspns in the dish.
The sides and sambals
Rice —ideally "Durban yellow rice"—or naan bread
Raitha — I've opted to make one using 0% fat yoghurt and finely chopped fresh dill and mint, though nothing wrong with the more traditional cucumber kind
Sambal—Ive gone for a fiery one of very finely chopped tomatoes, skin-on; minced red bird's eye chillies and lime zest mixed with a spoon
Cooking Method
If you're making the spice paste from scratch, add all ingredients to a food processor or a bowl (if using a handheld blender) and blend until a rough paste. Add a little water if necessary. You can keep this in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to a month. Or, spoon it into an ice tray and defrost as needed
Add the sliced onion and green bell pepper to a microwave-proof dish with a lid. Sprinkle over the juice an pulp of 1 lime; stir. Season with a little black pepper and salt. Cover and cook for on full power 4mins in the microwave (900W) stirring halfway through. You can do this some time before starting the main dish
In a kadai or frying pan, heat ½ tbspn peanut oil on a medium heat. Add 1 tspn garlic and ginger paste and 1 tspn yellow mustard seeds while the oil is still heating. When the mustard seeds begin popping, add the chicken, turning so that it seals on all sides. Sprinkle over 1 tspn turmeric and add half of the fresh dill. Continue to stir regularly until the chicken is sealed on all sides. When it is nearly cooked, remove from the heat, cover and allow to rest
In a kadai or fairly deep pot, heat ½ tbspn peanut oil on a medium heat. Add 2 tspns garlic and ginger paste and the remaining yellow mustard seeds while the oil is still heating, stirring regularly. When the contents begin to sizzle, add the celery and stir the ingredients for approx. 4 to 5 mins. Add the spice mix, stirring regularly for a few mins more so that the aromas are released
When the celery becomes "glassy"—it doesn't have to be soft yet—add the tomatoes and stir in turning up the heat to high. Once the ingredients begin to simmer, add the rest of the dill and stir in.
Dilute your chicken stock cube in boiling water in the empty tomato can and add to the pot. Stir and bring to the boil. Boil vigorously for approx. 5mins. Then cover, reduce the heat and cook at a healthy simmer for at least 10mins, more likely 15
When the tomatoes and chicken stock start to meld; taste "cooked"—and taste will be you biggest guide here—add the chickpeas and horseradish and stir in. It doesn't matter if you need to simmer your tomatoes for another 5—or even 10—minutes before, but don't add these ingredients until there is that tangible taste shift between uncooked tomatoes and cooked tomatoes. Reduce to a low heat, cover and simmer for another 7 or 8mins, stirring occasionally
Add the spinach and stir in. No more than a minute later, add the chicken and all the herbs and juices from the chicken pan. Stir in, re-cover and simmer gently on a low heat for about another 5mins
While this is happening, prepare your rice or naan breads and any other sides and condiments. Then take all of them to table and serve with the curry
Alternatives
This particular version of this Indian Diasporan dish is entirely born of cooking it with specific vegetables. So the veggie and vegan options are a no-brainer. Simply scale up the quantities of all the vegetables for a delicious chickpea-led dish. Alternatively you can use tofu or Quorn preparing them much in the manner of the chicken above. And, obviously use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock,
Pescatarians: my favourite rendition to date is using filleted, deboned, skinless white fish such as cod, haddock, coley or hake. Cut into fairly large pieces—about 7 to 8cm in length since fish breaks up fairly easily. Cook in a similar manner to the chicken above, gently turning the fillet pieces rather than stirring them. Cook it for barely 1min in the hot oil, spices and dill; approx. 30secs each side, ensuring it's not overcooked.
Gently lower this barely cooked fish into the sauce using a ladle spoon about 3mins before serving. Try "submerging" the fish into the sauce rather than stirring: you want it to flake on the plate, not in the pot. Use vegetable or fish stock in lieu of chicken. Fish and dill are traditional companions and I really like the version with fish stock, but you may not if you don't like "fishy" flavours.
Pairings
Beers are strongly entwined with curry culture, and for good reason. This dish is delicious with Cobra Premium, one of the great Indian beers out there if you want to play it traditional. But, if you want to be more gastronomic, pair it with a Pictish Brewing Company Sorachi, which uses Japanese sorachi hops that have a definite hint of dill and critrus to them. Or, if you want to go booze-free, try it with a Van de Streek Playground IPA.
I still maintain the South African chenin blancs are still the best option among whites to take on curries. One of the most memorable I ever had with this dish was a DeMorgenzon
Reserve Chenin Blanc 2019. But, there's no need to push the boat out for this delicious dish. The fabulous peppery undertow among the tangy fruit notes you find in "old reliables" such as the Nederberg chenin blancs are perfect.
But tonight I'm having it with a concoction that elderly Indian women would sip with curry in little joints around Durban's old spice market: equal parts of iced tea and Coca-Cola with thick slices of lime. I don't know what it's called. I don't even know if it has a name. But it's great with this dish.
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