Pre-Cooked Chicken for BIR Curry

Here I am going to show you how to pre-cook chicken for your BIR style curries! This recipe will give you enough for 4 portions. If you want to prepare more then of course you can just increase the ingredients accordingly.

If you are going to store this to use at a later date then you are able to cover the chicken in some base gravy and pop it in the freezer to then defrost, remove from the base gravy and use when needed. Alternatively it will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days without any issue as long a it’s in an air tight container.

Pre-Cooked Chicken Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 1kg Chicken Breasts
  • 2 Asian Bay Leaves (Tej Patta)
  • 10cm Cassia Bark
  • 3 Cloves
  • 2 Cardamom Pods
  • 1 tbsp Garlic and Ginger Paste
  • 2 tsp Curry Powder
  • 1 tsp Turmeric
  • Base Gravy - Enough to just about cover the chicken

Method

Start by cutting the chicken into pieces about 5cm big.

Next heat the oil in a frying pan, add the whole spices (Bay Leaves, Cassia Bark, Cloves and Cardamom Pods) Fry these for around 1 minute to infuse the oil. Add the Garlic and Ginger Paste, fry for another minute then add the Curry Powder and Turmeric along with a splash of Base Gravy to prevent the spices burning. Stir well and fry for 30 seconds.

Add the chicken and fry for around 3 minutes stirring occasionally to brown off the meat.

Add just about enough base gravy to cover the chicken turn down to a low heat and simmer for around 15 minutes (stirring now and then) or until the chicken is just about cooked. Make sure not to over cook the chicken, we want nice juicy chunks of meat!

Remove the meat and allow to cool before putting into the fridge or freezer for storage if not using right away.