When I come across an intriguing new recipe or technique, I want to check it out as soon as I can. Recently, a kind reader sent me one of each. In my last column, I had written about smoking fish; here is a method for smoking a salan (curry).

This twist on a standard curry was sent by Khalid Saeed, and works well to impart a nice, smoky fragrance and flavour.

Here is his recipe:

Khalid Saeed’s smoked chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken: 1 kg, preferably cut into 12 pcs

• Onion: 2 medium size

• Cumin seed: 1 1/2 tea spoon, roasted and coarsely crushed 

• Garlic: 8-10 cloves, crushed

• Red chilies: 1 1/2 teaspoon, coarsely ground

• Oil: 1/2 cup

• Tomato puree: 2 tablespoons

• Yogurt: 3 tablespoons, (well beaten)

• Salt: To taste

Method:

Wash chicken in vinegar and water and drain dry. Mix chillies, salt, crushed garlic, and two tablespoons of oil into the chicken pieces and marinate for an hour.

Make a coarse paste of onions in a blender.

A little twist in the recipe can make a lot of difference in the outcome

• Pour oil in a flat, heavy pan; when hot, spread chicken pieces and, on a high flame, toss them around, browning them on all sides. Throw in the garlic paste and continue browning for about five minutes, and then add the onions.

• Continue browning for another 10 minutes on lowered flame till liquid from the onions is reduced. Now add tomato puree, stir the mixture, lower the heat and cover the pan. The chicken has to slowly cook in its own steam.

• When the chicken is tender, add one tablespoon of yogurt, mix and turn off the flame. Immediately, throw in the rest of the yogurt on top to contrast with the colour of the curry.

• Last step: Smoke the chicken with charcoal smoke.

It was this last step that gave me a pause: how was I to ‘smoke the chicken in charcoal smoke’? I emailed Khalid Sahib, requesting an elaboration. In an old cookbook, I had come across a similar recipe that called for a piece of charcoal to be heated, placed on a piece of pottery in the pan with a curry, with the lid shut for a few minutes.

My mother had once told me about placing the charcoal on onionskin. Although I had been intrigued, I had never actually tried out this method.

But encouraged by Khalid Sahib’s email, I decided to check it out. I had made a tomato based curry in which I used a paste of garlic, ginger and green chilli. After softening the onions, I chucked in the paste, cumin powder, turmeric and several curry leaves, followed by the chicken, six small, finely chopped tomatoes and some tomato paste.

This was simmered for about half an hour on low heat until the chicken was cooked, and the tomato was reduced to a thick gravy. At this point, I lit a small piece of cinnamon stick on the flame, placed it on a small boat made of foil, and poured a couple of drops of oil on the lit wood. This made it smoke.

Then I placed the smoking wood in the pan and covered it for a few minutes; removing the foil before serving. The curry had a wonderful smoky flavour, and smelled slightly of cinnamon. The reason I used wood was that there was no charcoal in the house when I was cooking. But now that I have some, I tried it with daal, and it worked well.

So thank you, Khalid Sahib. And if readers would like to share some special recipes, I would love to try them.

Here in Sri Lanka, coconut milk is often used in curries. I must confess I’m not a huge fan of dishes all tasting of coconut, but it does cut the heat from some of the hotter curries prepared here. The other day we found a charming shack restaurant overlooking the sea.

The prawn curry contained curry leaves and had a wonderful white gravy whose chilli was balanced by the coconut milk. The prawns were perfectly cooked; it is so easy to overcook them in a curry.

Another day in Paradise …

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 22nd, 2015

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