- 4 pheasant or guinea fowl breasts, skinned
- 3 fat cloves garlic
- 1 inch fresh ginger
- 4 long green chillies, plus 1 to decorate
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 4 tablespoons mustard oil
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 packed cup mint leaves
- 1 packed cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 cup Greek or plain yogurt
- Pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or ghee
- 1 cup water
- Put the garlic, ginger, chillies, lime juice, cumin, garam masala and 1 tablespoon of the mustard oil into a blender or processor and purée to a paste. I find a processor or mini grinder easier; you do have to do a lot of digging down and scraping in a blender canister, but it works all the same.
- Slash the pheasant or guinea fowl across each breast on the diagonal about three times, not cutting all the way through, and lay them in a single layer in a shallow dish. Coat with the spicy paste on both sides, cover and marinate for a couple of hours, or preferably overnight in the fridge.
- Process the spinach, mint and cilantro leaves. Add the yogurt – I always like Greek or whole-milk for body, but you can use any plain yogurt – the remaining mustard oil and the pinch of salt, and process to make a vibrant green sauce. Spread over the pheasant or guinea fowl breasts as before and leave again for an hour, or longer if you like.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, and then shake off the excess yogurty marinade from the pheasant or guinea fowl (reserving the marinade). Cook the breasts gently for about 5 minutes a side. Don’t have the heat too high or the yogurt will stick and burn.
- Add the cup water to the leftover marinade and stir into a cohesive sauce before tipping into the pan over the cooking poultry. Cook, gently as before, for another 5 minutes a side or until cooked through.
- Take the breasts out of the pan to carve them on the diagonal into slices, put them on to a serving dish and pour over the sauce. Deseed the remaining chilli and cut into long, thin strips to strew over the top.