Curry leaves are to the Indian subcontinent as basil leaves are to Italy. These fragrant, nutty-flavoured leaves are ubiquitous in all manner of dishes, but are made even more delightful when fried with mustard seeds until crisp. Here they are tumbled over delicious spiced chicken naans topped off with a creamy carrot raita. It's an astonishing amount of flavour for just 20 minutes of input.
Heat ½ the oil in a frypan over medium heat. Pick curry leaves from their stems and discard stems. Add curry leaves and mustard seeds to frypan and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 minute or until mustard seeds start to pop and curry leaves start to crisp and turn translucent. Remove from pan and set aside to cool in a bowl.
Peel and slice onion into thin half-moons. Return frypan to medium-high heat, add remaining oil, onion and a sprinkle of salt and cook for 4–5 minutes or until starting to caramelise. While onion is cooking, continue with step 3.
Slice chicken horizontally to yield 2 thinner pieces. Grate ginger. Place chicken in a bowl with turmeric, ginger, garam masala and ¼ teaspoon salt flakes and toss to combine. Add chicken to pan with onion and cook for 5–6 minutes each side or until cooked through. While chicken is cooking, continue with step 4.
Peel and grate carrot. Place carrot, yoghurt, ⅛ teaspoon sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper in a bowl and stir to combine.
Stir mango chutney through chicken for 30 seconds or until glossy and sticky. Remove from heat.
Warm naans according to packet instructions. Roughly chop cucumber into 2cm pieces. Place cucumber, curry leaf and mustard seed oil, red wine vinegar, ⅛ teaspoon sea salt flakes and a good crack of black pepper in a bowl and mix to combine. Top naans with chicken and cucumber salad and serve with carrot raita.