chicken curry 4 tsp vegetable oil 4 cloves 5 green cardamoms 1 cinnamon stick 3 star anise 6 curry leaves 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 2 in.( 5 cm) long piece fresh ginger, crushed 4 garlic cloves crushed 3 or 4 tbs mild curry paste 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp five-spice powder 1 chicken, skinned and cut into 8 parts 14 oz (400 g) canned tomatoes, chopped 4 oz (114 g) creamed coconut ½ tsp sugar 2 oz (50 g) chopped coriander leaves   1. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet or casserole. Throw in the cloves, cinnamon stick, star anise, and curry leaves and fry until the cloves swell—this doesn't take long. 2. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and fry until the onions start to turn brown. Add curry paste, five-spice powder and turmeric and stirring constantly fry for another minute or two. 3. Put in the chicken pieces and mix well, turning regularly to make sure all the parts have been fried a bit on all sides and that the pieces are evenly covered with the spice mixture. 4. Cover tightly and cook until the chicken is almost done. Add the tomatoes and creamed coconut and simmer until the chicken is done. You can replace the cover or leave it off depending on how thick or thin you like your sauce. back