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5 chicken curry recipes you can make at home to spice up your dinner this weekend
If your go-to meal at the end of the day is chicken curry with rice, these recipes will allow you to cook your comfort food in a new way at home
India boasts of different flavours every few kilometres, and through the country, there might be as many recipes for chicken curry as there are languages. In North India, chicken curry tends to be heavier, made with cream and ghee and is strong on the garam masala, South Indian versions often boasts of a strong flavour of coconut and curry leaves, while the North Eastern iteration is hearty, bursting with unique local ingredient—all flavours that can be paired with rice, nani, chapati and even appams make a complete meal this weekend. Vogue got to Mayank Kulshreshtha, executive chef at ITC Maratha, to share chicken curry recipes to try at home, if you're looking for a soulful meal.
1. Recipe: Homestyle Chicken Curry
Ingredients:
12 pieces chicken, curry cut
250gm yoghurt
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
10gm red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp kasuri methi
1 tsp salt
50gm vegetable oil
3 green chillies, slit in half
2 bay leaves
4-5 cloves
4-5 black peppercorn
1 cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
5 onions, roughly chopped
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Coriander, to garnish
Method:
1
Wash the chicken pieces and drain dry.
2
Apply salt and turmeric and keep aside.
3
Whisk the yoghurt and add the ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, and kasuri methi.
4
Mix the chicken in the yoghurt marinade and keep in refrigerator for at least an hour.
5
Meanwhile heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan and add the slit green chillies, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, cinnamon and black cardamom. Cook for a minute till all the spices start to crackle.
6
Add the chopped onions and sauté till golden brown on a slow flame.
7
Now add the tomatoes and cook slowly till all the tomatoes are softened and incorporated nicely with the onions to form a masala base. Keep cooking till the masala leaves the oil.
8
Add the chicken pieces and mix well. Cook the chicken on a slow flame. Continue cooking till the chicken is completely cooked.
9
Add a little water and mix well. Simmer for another ten minutes, check for seasonings and finish with chopped coriander
10
Serve hot with chapatis or steamed rice.
2. Recipe: Malvani Chicken Curry
Ingredients for homemade Malvani masala:
8-10 dried red chillies
1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ cumin seeds
½ caraway seeds (shahi jeera)
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp sesame seeds
2 blades mace
¼ nutmeg
1 star anise
1 tsp fennel seeds
4-5 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
3-4 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
10 black peppercorns
Ingredients for onion coconut paste:
2 large onion, sliced
1 ½ cups fresh coconut, grated
3-4 large garlic
1 tbsp oil
Ingredients for curry:
1 ½kg chicken
1 ½ tbsp ginger garlic paste
½ tbsp turmeric powder
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 bay leaves
Salt as per taste
2-3 tbsp oil
Coriander leaves, handful
Method:
1
Marinate the chicken with ginger garlic paste, turmeric and salt and keep it aside.
2
Roast all the ingredients for Malvani masala until you get a nice nutty aroma. Take it off the heat and let it cool for few minutes, then grind into a fine powder.
3
In a large, thick-bottomed pan or kadai, heat a tbsp of oil on medium heat and add the sliced onions and garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the freshly grated coconut to the onion and roast them for 10-12 mins until nicely roasted and golden brown in colour.
4
Take it off the heat and let it cool for some time before grinding to a paste with some water. Add the rest of the oil to the same pan and heat it on medium flame. When the oil is hot, add bay leaves and chopped onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the onions turn golden brown.
5
Toss in the marinated chicken and fry for five minutes until it is brown on all sides and no longer raw. Then add the prepared Malvani masala powder to the chicken and stir everything well.
6
Stir in the onion-coconut paste to the chicken. Cook the chicken along with the masalas for 5-6 minutes. Add three cups of water to the chicken. Cover and cook, stirring intermittently. Check the seasoning add salt if required.
7
Cook for 18-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and you see the oil floating on top.
8
Sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves and take it off the heat.
9
Serve it hot with rice, roti or vade (a fried flatbread native to the western part of the country).
3. Recipe: Andhra Chicken with Pepper
Ingredients:
500gm chicken, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp ginger, grated
3 green chilies, chopped
Salt to taste
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
10-12 curry Leaves
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp peppercorn, freshly crushed
¾ cup coriander leaves, chopped
Oil to cook
Method:
1
Take a big bowl and marinate the chicken pieces with turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, salt and lemon juice, mix and keep refrigerated for 30 minutes.
2
Heat oil in a deep frying pan, once the oil is hot, temper the oil with cinnamon stick, cloves and 3/4 portion of curry leaves and sauté it for about 30 seconds.
3
After 30 seconds, add the chopped onions and sauté till they turn golden and start to caramelise.
4
Once the onions are starting to brown, immediately add chopped green chillies and marinated chicken sauté for about two minutes.
5
Add coriander powder and crushed pepper, mix well and cook on low flame until the curry comes together from sides of the pan. Stirring, intermittently sprinkle water as and when required. This will take about 4-5 minutes.
6
Add about ¼ cup water, once water starts boiling, reduce the heat and cover. Cook until the chicken is tender and cooked. Once the chicken is soft cooked, open the lid and stir on medium heat till the moisture evaporates.
7
Sprinkle chopped ¾ cup of coriander and cook for two minutes.
8
Before serving garnish with one teaspoon crushed pepper, one teaspoon lemon juice and remaining coriander leaves.
9
Serve Andhra pepper chicken along with tawa paratha or white rice.
4. Recipe: Murgh Hariyali
Ingredients for the masala:
1 cup coriander leaves and tender stalk
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
4 green chillies
10 peppercorns
½ tsp garam masala powder
6 garlic cloves
½ inch ginger
6-8 cashew nuts
½ cup fried onions, crumbled
½ medium sized onion, roughly chopped
To be blanched:
1 cup spinach leaves
Ingredients for the chicken:
1kg chicken on the bone
Salt to taste
3 tbsp ghee
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ onion, finely chopped
1 tsp kasuri methi
1 medium sized tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
½ cup thick yoghurt, whisked till smooth and creamy
Method:
1
Wash and drain the chicken in a colander.
2
Grind all the ingredients mentioned under 'for the masala' to a fine paste, using a little water, as required.
3
To blanch the palak, place it in a bowl and pour boiling hot water over it, enough to cover all the leaves. Cover and keep aside for 2-3 minutes, then drain the water, refresh under cold water and transfer the leaves to a bowl of ice cold water for five minutes. Grind it to a paste and keep aside.
4
Boil the chicken with salt till almost done. Keep aside. Heat ghee and add the finely chopped garlic and fry it for 4-5 seconds, add the onions and fry till golden brown.
5
Add the kasuri methi and chopped tomatoes and cook for a minute.
6
Add the ground masala and cook on a low heat very well till the oil begins to separate.
7
Add the whisked yoghurt and continue to cook till the oil begins to separate.
8
Add the pureed spinach and cook for a minute or two, then add the boiled chicken pieces only.
9
Retain the stock and add it little by little, continuing to cook on a low heat. Adjust the thickness of the gravy by adding the stock in parts and cook till it gets nicely incorporated into the gravy.
10
Serve hot with roti or rice.
5. Recipe: Sagoti Kombdi
Ingredients:
750gm chicken, on the bone cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
½ cup fresh coriander, chopped
2 green chillies, chopped
8 garlic cloves
1 piece ginger
5 tbsp oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 stone flower pieces
1 star anise
5-6 black peppercorns
2-3 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 medium-sized onion, sliced
½ cup coconut, scraped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 onions, finely chopped
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp coriander-cumin powder
Salt to taste
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
Method:
1
Marinate the chicken with lemon juice, salt and set aside.
2
Grind fresh coriander, green chillies, garlic cloves and ginger with enough water to make a fine paste. Add the ground mixture to the chicken; mix well and set aside.
3
Heat two tablespoons oil in a shallow nonstick pan. Add the cinnamon, stone flower, star anise, black peppercorns, cloves, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds. Sauté till fragrant. Add the sliced onion and sauté till dark brown.
4
Add the coconut and sauté till golden brown. Allow the mixture to cool.
5
Heat remaining oil in a non-stick pan. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté till the raw flavour goes.
6
Add the chopped onion and sauté till translucent. Add the marinated chicken and sauté for two minutes on high heat. Add the red chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander-cumin powder and mix well.
7
Add half cup water, cover and cook on low heat for 8 to 10 minutes.
8
Transfer the cooled coconut-spice mixture to a mixer jar. Add water and grind to a fine paste.
9
Add the ground mixture and mix well. Adjust the seasoning.
10
Add nutmeg powder and mix well. Cover and cook for five minutes.
11
Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander.
Also read:
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4 quick and easy one pot recipes that are perfect for when you can't deal with washing more dishes
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