Pheasant Leg Curry with Mini Flatbreads

 

Pheasant leg meat curry with brown rice and mini flatbreads

I have on this blog previously shared a recipe for pheasant breast curry. While pheasant breasts are very similar in texture and appearance to chicken breasts, pheasant legs are a bit of a different proposition from chicken legs. I tend to cook them in the slow cooker, whatever I happen to be using them for afterwards, and find this is the best way of enjoying the firm, succulent meat at its very best. This does unfortunately mean that the cooking time for recipes is significantly increased as a result, but if you give this idea a go, I hope you will agree that the extra effort required is more than justified in the finished dish.

Curries of any type are very often served with rice and/or flatbreads such as naan or chapati. In this instance, I have served the curry with brown rice and some mini, homemade chilli, garlic and coriander (cilantro) flatbreads.

Cook Time

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: Overnight plus 1 hour

Ready in: Overnight plus 1 hour 30 min

Yields (Curry): 6 to 8 servings

Slow cooked pheasant legs

Ingredients (Curry)

• 6 whole, skinless pheasant legs
• Salt
• 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 1/2 bulb garlic (approximately 6 cloves), peeled and finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons medium curry powder
• 3 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
• 4 14 ounce/400g cans chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
• 6 birds' eye chillies, topped and finely sliced (3 green and 3 red in this instance)
• Black pepper
• 1 pound/450g baby spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander (cilantro), plus extra to garnish

Ingredients (Flatbreads and rice)

• 200g plain (all purpose) flour, plus a little extra for dusting/rolling
• Salt
• 100ml cold water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried coriander
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and grated
• 1 red birds' eye chilli, topped and very finely sliced
• Little bit of butter
• 3 ounces/75g brown rice per person

Method

Late the night before you intend making your curry, put the pheasant legs into your slow cooker, season with a little salt and pour in enough cold water to ensure they are comfortably covered. Cook over night at low setting for 10 hours. They really do take this long to be fully tender. The next morning and when the cooking time is up, lift them to a deep plate with a large, slotted spoon, cover and leave to cool completely.

Preparing to saute onions and garlic with curry powder

Pour the cooking oil into a large soup or stock pot. Add the onion, garlic and curry powder and put the pot on to a medium heat. Saute for up to 10 minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, until the onions are fully softened and reduced in the oil.

Tomatoes, chillies and seasonings are added to sauteed onions

Pour the canned tomatoes into the pot with the sauteed onions and garlic. Add the chopped chillies, around a teaspoon of salt and a good few turns of black pepper. Stir very well and bring to a gentle simmer. Adjust the heat to maintain the simmer, stirring occasionally, while you remove the pheasant leg meat from the bones in small pieces. Take your time doing this as, particularly where the tendons have not been removed from the legs at the time of cleaning, it can be quite a fiddly and laborious task. It is worth spending the required time, however, to avoid small bones making it into the curry that could cause all sorts of problems.

Pheasant leg meat is added to curry sauce

Add the pheasant leg meat to the simmering sauce. Stir well and simmer for 5 further minutes to ensure the meat is fully heated through.

Baby spinach is carefully folded into the curry

It will seem like a lot of spinach you are going to add to the curry but it will wilt down and decrease in size massively in a very short period of time. It is likely though that you will have to add it to the pot in 2 or 3 batches. Simply add a couple of handfuls to the simmering curry and carefully stir fold it through. Repeat as it wilts and until you have added it all. Simmer for 5 further minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the chopped coriander (cilantro) to the curry and stir it through. Turn off the heat under the pot, cover and set aside while you prepare the flatbreads and rice.

Measure out the water in a measuring jug and add the dried coriander, sliced chilli, grated garlic and a pinch of salt. You may wish to create this combination as you start to prepare the curry to allow the flavours to infuse the water and thus better the completed breads.

Water and oil are added to flour to make flatbreads

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the oil. Pour in the infused water and get your hand in to fully combine the mixture into a slightly wet but firm dough. This may take a couple of minutes but be patient and it should come good.

Scatter a little flour on a board or clean dry surface and briefly knead the dough. Return to the bowl, cover and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Cutting the dough into portions for flatbreads

Roll the dough into a ball and press it down slightly on a floured surface. Cut it in half, then each half into quarters and each quarter into eighths. This should give you 8 approximately equal sized wedges of dough.

Put a large cast iron or similar skillet on to reach a very high heat. While the pan is heating measure out your required rice and give it a brief rinse in a sieve under cold water. Follow the cooking instructions on the rice pack but this rice required 20 minutes' simmering in boiling, salted water.

Starting to fry mini flatbreads

You will need to fry the flatbreads in batches. This pan took 3 at a time. Take 1 wedge of dough at a time and roll it between your palms into a ball. Roll it out gently on a floured surface with a rolling pin to a circle with a diameter of around 3 inches/8cm. 

Be sure to time the flatbreads as they cook. They require 2 minutes on the first side followed by 1.5 minutes on the second side. Roll the second batch as the first batch are cooking.

When the flatbreads come out of the pan, sit them on a holding plate and very lightly spread with butter (careful - they'll still be very hot!) before transferring them to an airtight container to keep them slightly warm.

Put the curry back on for a few minutes just to heat through while you drain the rice at your sink and return it to the pot. Allow it to steam off for a couple of minutes to get rid of the excess moisture in the form of steam, forking it slightly every 30 seconds or so,

Plated rice and mini flatbreads

Lay 2 or 3 flatbreads at the each of a deep serving plate per person and spoon in some rice to help hold them in place as shown. Spoon the curry into the empty part of the plate and garnish with some more coriander leaf to serve.