Chicken Korma - cooking recipe

Ingredients

For the Korma (gravy)
1 large onion, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cinnamon stick, snapped into two pieces
5 -6 cardamom pods
5 -6 cloves
For the sautee
1/4 cup canola oil or 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 -3 bay leaves
For the flavor
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chili powder (cayenne pepper)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
For the main ingredient
1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless chicken
1 cup plain yogurt

Preparation

Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces (or slightly bigger) and keep aside.
In a blender drop onion, ginger, garlic, 1/2 the cinnamon stick, seeds of the cardamom pods and cloves. Blend till the mixture is a paste.
In a large skillet, over medium heat, pour the oil and wait a minute or two.
Add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, bay leaves and remaining half of the cinnamon stick.
Once the seeds start crackling, add the onion, garlic and ginger paste. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring frequently, till the mixture turns slightly brown.
Once the mixture is cooked, add the spices (turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala) along with the salt. You can choose to use either coriander powder or garam masala if one is unavailable. Mix these thoroughly.
Add in the chicken and the yogurt. Mix these ingredients over medium heat for 5 minutes to ensure that the chicken is adequately covered in the gravy.
Turn the heat to low and cover the skillet and let it sit for 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Serve hot with basmati rice or naan.