Chicken Madras

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pot over medium heat; add whole garlic cloves and roughly chopped ginger and stir on medium-low until the garlic has small brown specks, not too brown or the gravy turns bitter. Add the cardamoms and cloves.

Add two roughly chopped onions and fry on medium-high until soft and pale with some browning at the edges.

Add the chopped tomatoes, fry a few minutes on medium-high, then cover 5 minutes until soft.

Transfer to a bowl, cool completely and blend to a smooth paste.

In the cleaned pot over medium heat, heat three tablespoons of oil (hot, not smoking); add the cumin seeds and cinnamon stick, then the finely chopped third onion with a sprinkle of salt, and fry until golden brown at the edges.

Mix the spice paste: Madras curry powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric and a quarter cup of water.

Turn the heat low, add the spice paste (rinsing the cup with a little water) and fry a few minutes; add the tomato paste and fry a few minutes more.

Add the bone-in chicken, raise to medium-high and fry until the water released by the chicken dries up.

Add the blended garlic-ginger-onion paste (rinse the blender jar with a little water), the salt, crushed dried fenugreek leaves and optional sugar.

Cover on low heat 20 minutes, partially covered if there is a lot of liquid.

Add the coconut milk, taste and add more chili powder if wanted; cook uncovered on medium-low another 20 minutes to thicken (covered if it gets too thick).

Add chopped coriander leaves and the lemon juice.

Heat the ghee in a small pan over medium without smoking, add the dried red chilies and curry leaves, and pour over the curry in the pot; stir before plating.