Chicken curry recipe

Chicken curry recipe for beginners. This detailed post on how to make chicken curry at home will guide you to make the best dish using pantry staples. This is one of the easiest that even a novice or a bachelor can cook with an amazing outcome. It not only tastes delicious but is also very flavorful with soft, tender & succulent pieces of chicken. Serve it with butter naan, tandoori roti, jeera rice or plain basmati rice.

I have grown up eating many kinds of Indian chicken curries from various regions as my mom is a food enthusiast. We would get to eat them during the weekends with rice & jowar roti.

So making a good chicken curry is something I learnt from my mom. I have shared lot of chicken curry recipes on the blog which I make for my family.

But this post on a basic chicken curry was something I thought will be helpful for the newbies. I have kept the recipe very very simple & have not used any fancy ingredients like canned tomato puree, stock or any sort of cream. There is no blending & grinding work involved.

So even if you are a novice with just a basic kitchen set up, just go ahead and give this recipe a try. I am sure you will cook an awesome chicken curry!

The entire dish is slow cooked, that’s what makes this chicken curry uniquely delicious & flavorful.

More similar recipes,
Butter chicken recipe
Chicken korma
Chicken tikka masala
Methi chicken

How to make chicken curry

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in heavy bottom pan. When the oil turns hot, add

• 1 small bay leaf (or 1 sprig curry leaves)
• 2 inch cinnamon piece
• 4 cloves
• 3 green cardamoms. (All of these are optional but recommended)

2. Add 1 cup very finely chopped onions and 1 chopped green chili pepper. Saute the onions till they turn golden. To speed up, I used another tbsp of oil here and this is optional.

3. Add 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste. Make sure the onions turn golden before adding ginger garlic.

4. Saute ginger garlic for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the raw smell disappears completely.

5. Add ½ cup tomatoes (chopped or mashed or pureed). Also add ¼ teaspoon turmeric and ½ teaspoon salt.

6. Next fry until the tomatoes turn completely mushy and the raw smell has gone.

7. Add 1 teaspoon red chili powder and ¼ cup whisked yogurt (curd). Check the tips section below to know tips on how to prevent yogurt from splitting in the curry. To substitute yogurt, you can soak 12 cashew nuts or almonds or 3 tablespoons white poppy seeds in ½ cup hot water for 30 minutes. Blend it to a smooth paste & add here.

8. Saute on a medium flame until the mixture becomes thick and begins to smell good. Optional – If you do not like chunky onions in your curry, then cool and blend this with water to a smooth puree.

9. Add the following ingredients

• ½ kg chicken (about 1 lb)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves.

10. Saute for 3 to 4 mins or until the chicken turns pale.

11. Cover and cook on a low flame for about 3 to 4 mins so the chicken absorbs the flavors. Meanwhile, heat 1 cup water in a separate pot. You can also microwave the water in a cup for 1 min.

12. Pour ½ to ¾ cup hot water or as needed. Using cold water often makes the meat tough & hard.

13. Make sure you use just enough water to partially cover the chicken. Cover and cook on a low to medium heat until soft tender. It took about 10 mins for me. This may vary depending on the age of the chicken or the size of the pieces. Do not cook on a high temperature.

14. Lastly check whether the chicken is done by pricking it with a fork. It must be soft and should fall off the bone easily. Taste the curry and add more salt if need. Also add ½ teaspoon more garam masala if you feel the curry is low on flavor.

When the curry reaches a desired consistency switch off the stove. Add some coriander leaves for garnish. Keep covered until you serve.

Serve chicken curry with rice, jeera rice, ghee rice or chapathi. Also have a simple raita or onion wedges to go on the side.

Authentic Indian curry does not use

• Canned tomato puree
• Curry powder
• Cornstarch or
• Any kind of stock or broth

So this recipe does not use any of the above mentioned ingredients & will give you a real Indian chicken curry with a burst of flavors & deliciousness.

Pro Tips

1. Choosing chicken
You can make this curry with boneless or bone-in chicken. But bone-in chicken yields the best curry as the juices from the bones seep to the curry. So bone-in chicken also thickens the curry without adding any thickener.

Most traditional Indian households use the whole chicken that is cut to equal sizes. The curry is made with all the pieces – thighs, breasts etc. But if you are choosy you can use whatever you like.

2. Whole spices
To begin with I do temper the whole spices like bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves & cardamom. If you do not have these you may skip. But the flavor from the whole spices is much more intense than the ground powders so I use them.

3. Garam masala – ground spice powder
Garam masala is an Indian spice blend made by dry roasting the spices & pounding them. For this chicken curry recipe you will need a very good spice powder.

I have used this homemade garam masala. However you can also use any store bought powder that is of good quality & aromatic.

Substitute: A good substitute to garam masala is a curry powder. You can again choose something good from a popular brand. But please note that a curry powder does not have the same aroma & spice level as the garam masala powder.

4. Onions & tomatoes
I have used chopped onions & tomatoes here. Some regions use them by grating or pureeing. However it is up to you to make a choice.

5. Taste enhancer or thickener
Traditionally chicken curry was made without any thickening agents. To enhance the taste, one of the ingredients like coconut, yogurt, nut paste or poppy seeds paste were used.

Back home in India, my mom would always use poppy seeds paste for the chicken curry. Since poppy seeds are in the country I live, I either use yogurt or cashew paste here.

So feel free to use fresh yogurt if you do not own a blender. Here is how to use it.

Using yogurt in curry

Most often thick yogurt with lesser whey in it, won’t split in the curry but however for unknown reasons it may sometimes happen. So these tips will help you if you want to prevent that.

• Simply whisk it with a fork until smooth. Temper the yogurt first by adding 2 tbsps of onion tomato masala (made in the recipe) to it. Mix it well. Ten lower the flame completely and pour the yogurt to the pan.
• Yogurt that is not sour and has lesser whey works well in this recipe. So you can use greek yogurt or even homemade yogurt.
• If your yogurt is too runny and has a lot of whey, simply strain it in a cheese cloth and then use. Too much of whey will always split the yogurt in the chicken curry.

Slow cooking

The specialty of this chicken curry is slow cooking. Do not rush or be in a hurry to finish up cooking quickly. A slow cooked dish will be worth the effort as it really stands out in taste & flavor.

A dish prepared on a high flame will yield you only a hotchpotch curry and not the one that you will really love & enjoy.

Serving suggestions

You can serve this chicken curry with plain rice , basmati rice, Jeera rice, ghee rice or even with roti, paratha or naan.

Make creamy chicken curry

You can make this chicken curry creamy by adding 4 tbsps of cream or thick coconut milk towards the end.

Related Recipes

Recipe card

If you are using naatu kodi / kozhi (country chicken) you can make this chicken curry in a pressure cooker and cook for 4 whistles on a medium flame.