Exotic Chicken with Almonds and Coconut Milk

This recipe is totally invented, being a mix of Brasilian, Chinese and Thai style cuisines. I feel I should warn you that the preparation is quite lengthy and the washing up quite heavy (inevitably you end up using every single utensil in your kitchen), but I can assure you that the result will be worth it!
The thickness of the sauce can be adjusted using cornflour: you just add it to the broth and mix very well. Alternatively, you could dip the chicken morsels in it before throwing them in the pan.
One more tip: should you find it difficult to locate coconut cream in your town, just heat some milk and stir in grated coconut, leaving on the boil until it become thicker. Add a spoon of cane sugar to the recipe to sweeten it up if you use fresh coconut.

Last recommendation: if you can, try to use fair-trade spices and rice.

What you need (for two people):

400 gr. chicken breast
200 millilitres coconut cream
100 gr. peeled almonds
1 clove of garlic
1 chunk (2 cm) of fresh ginger
1 chunk (2 cm) cinnamon
8 cardamoms
6 cloves
3 small chilli peppers
½ litre vegetable broth
¼ litre milk
corn oil
fresh coriander leaves, to garnish

How you do it:

In a little non-stick pan, toast the almonds with some oil, then roughly crush them in a mortar and keep aside. You are allowed to taste one or two while they are crunchy and glossy!
In a wok or a big non-stick pan, toast a cinnamon stick, the seeds of 8 cardamoms, 6 cloves, 3 dried chilli peppers. Transfer the spices in your mortar, add one crushed garlic clove and some fresh chopped ginger and grind finely. Add a few drops of vegetable oil to obtain a creamy mix, transfer it back into the wok and gently fry, until the aroma fills your kitchen. Now add the chicken, which you have cut in 2x2 cm dices, and the crushed almonds. Let it fry, mixing well until the pink of the chicken pieces has turned into a nice ivory-golden colour. Add some hot broth and simmer for 20 minutes or so. In the meantime gently heat the coconut cream diluted with the milk. Pour this into your wok, and simmer for a further 20 minutes or until the desired thickness.

Serve with boiled perfumed Thai rice, after garnishing with fresh coriander leaves.