Chicken korma recipe with video and step by step photos – Korma is a delicious gravy dish that is usually made of spices, nuts, yogurt, seeds, coconut, vegetables and meat. It is said to have been originated in the Indian sub continent during the Mughal era. Korma can be made with veggies, chicken or even mutton. This recipe of chicken korma will give you a very tasty, creamy and delicious dish.
There are so many ways a korma is made, most of them are adapted to the regional cuisines. So the ingredients used may differ. Most korma recipes use poppy seeds, but I have not use them here instead used almonds and cashews.
Crisp fried onions are one of the main ingredients used in a chicken korma recipe. However I have not used them here but pan fried the onions till golden. Then used to make the paste.
I have marinated the chicken and used just to make the chicken tender.
This chicken korma recipe is one of the best made with minimum ingredients that one can find in most Asian kitchens. This tastes best after 2 hours of preparation as the chicken absorbs the flavors of spices used.
It tastes great with steamed basmati rice, Jeera rice or Indian breads like Naan, roti or paratha.
Step-by-step photos
Marination for chicken korma
1. Add yogurt or curd and ginger paste to chicken.
2. Add turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and salt.
3. Marinate and set aside for 30 mins.
4. While the chicken marinates, go ahead with the recipe. Heat oil or ghee in a pan. Add 2 to 3 cardamoms. I used a bit more here as we like the flavor.
Preparation for chicken korma
5. Add sliced onions.
6. Fry the onions until golden brown. Turn off the stove. Add almonds and cashews. You can skip almonds if you do not have. Cool this completely.
7. Add the onions and nuts to a blender jar. Pour 4 tbsps curd.
8. Make a smooth paste.
How to make chicken korma
9. Add 1 tsp oil to the same pan and grease it well. Add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. I used ceylon cinnamon so used more. If you are using Indian one, just use a 2 inch thin strip. Saute the spices for a min. Also add in green chili at this stage.
10. Add marinated chicken.
11. Fry on a medium heat until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away. This takes about 5 to 7 mins.
12. Add the onion paste. Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cup water.
13. Add salt.
14. Add garam masala and coriander powder. You can also add little chili powder if you prefer red color korma.
15. Mix well. Cover and cook on a medium heat until the chicken turns tender and is soft cooked.
16. Sprinkle some coriander leaves.
Serve chicken korma with rice, jeera rice, roti, naan or paratha.
Tips to make chicken korma
- Bone-in chicken tastes best in this recipe as the juices from the bones seep to the korma and make the gravy delicious.
- Marinating the chicken is optional. It is just done to tenderize the meat. If you prefer to skip the step, add all of the marinade ingredients together to the pan along with chicken.
- A korma curry gets its creamy texture from curd and nut paste. Traditional korma recipe does not use any kind of starch to thicken the curry.
- The aroma comes from the fried onion paste, take care to fry the onions evenly.
- If you have a nut allergy just skip the nuts in the recipe and add more yogurt.
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Recipe
Chicken korma recipe | How to make chicken korma
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
For marination
- ½ kg chicken (bone-in) (1 to 1.2 lb)
- 1/8 to ¼ tsp ground turmeric or haldi
- 3 tbsps yogurt or curd (plain)
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste (ground or crushed in equal quantities)
- ¾ to 1 tsp garam masala or korma masala
- 1 to 1 ¼ tsp red chili powder (less spicy variety, minimum ½ tsp)
- Salt as needed (I used ½ tsp sea salt)
To saute & make paste
- 1 ½ to 2 tbsp oil or ghee
- 2 green cardamoms
- 1 cup onions sliced
- 6 Cashews
- 4 almonds (optional)
- 4 tbsps yogurt (or ¼ cup curd for paste)
For chicken korma gravy
- 1 small bay leaf or tej patta (optional)
- 4 cloves or laung (optional)
- 2 inch cinnamon piece or dalchini (optional)
- 1 cardamom or elaichi (optional)
- 1 to 2 green chilies slit
- ¾ to 1 ¼ cup water for gravy
- salt for gravy as needed (I used about ½ tsp)
- ½ to ¾ tsp garam masala
- 1½ tsp Coriander powder
- ¼ tsp red chili powder (optional, for color)
- 3 tbsps coriander leaves or cilantro chopped
How to make the recipe
Marination for chicken korma recipe
- Marinate chicken with 3 tbsps yogurt, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, ¼ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp salt, 1 to 1¼ tsp red chili powder and ¾ to 1 tsp garam masala.
- Cover this and set aside until needed.
Make onion paste
- Heat a pan with 1½ to 2 tbsps oil and add 2 cardamoms.
- Add sliced onions and fry them evenly until golden brown.
- Next add cashews and almonds. Cool these completely.
- Later add the cooled onions and nuts to a blender jar along with yogurt.
- Make a smooth paste of these. Set this aside.
How to make chicken korma
- To the same pan, add 1 tsp oil and heat it.
- Optional – Saute whole spices – bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom in oil for a min.
- Add green chilli and marinated chicken.
- Fry on a medium heat until the raw smell of ginger garlic paste goes away.
- Then add the onion curd paste. Pour ¾ cup water and mix well.
- Add salt, coriander powder and garam masala. If desired you can also add more chili powder for color.
- Mix well. Cover and cook on a low flame until chicken is cooked to tender.
- Cook further till the gravy reaches a desired consistency. If it is too thick then pour some hot water to bring it to consistency.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve chicken korma with plain basmati rice, naan, roti or paratha.
Video
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Praveen says
Thanks for the recipe. Tastes delicious.
swasthi says
You are welcome
Glad to know
Bronwyn says
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe. I made this but my paste ended up curdled and separated and my sauce wouldn’t thicken at alluntil I added cornstarch. I wanted to ask what I might have done wrong… I tried to follow the diagrams exactly 😕 would it be possible next time to use a slow cooker for this? Also can I replace Yogurt with Coconut cream? Thanks so much again 😊
swasthi says
Welcome Bronwyn,
Cashews and almonds used to make the korma paste prevents the yogurt from curdling. They work similar to cornstarch. Also there is very little yogurt used to make the paste.Cooking yogurt based curries at high temperature can cause curdling. Other reason could be the proportions – onions:nuts:yogurt. If the ratios are not right then it can curdle. I haven’t tried this in a slow cooker so don’t know about it. Yes coconut cream can be used.
Hope this helps.
bushra says
i have tried this.its so yummy
swasthi says
Thank you
Martina Mizzi says
hi! does the korma taste as good without the optional spices? don’t have any available but if they make a big difference i will get some before trying this.. thanks!
swasthi says
Hi Martina
You can skip the whole spices in the curry. The 2 cardamoms that are pureed with onions makes a difference. You can add about 1/4 tsp of ground cardamoms as a substitute to whole cardamoms. Add it along with the garam masala. Hope this helps.
Daneyal says
I made it tonight exactly as stated. It was really, really good. I wish I had blended the cashews a little better, next time I will blend them longer. I’m not an experienced cook and this tasted exceptional even with my limited skills.
I’m not sure how many servings this is supposed to make but 2 of us ate it all. Next time I will double everything so there is some for the next day. Thank you for posting it!
swasthi says
Hello Daneyal,
Glad it turned out good. Yes the texture of the ground cashews and onions must be very smooth. You can also pass this through a filter. This recipe makes 2 adult and 2 kids servings(below 5 yrs).Hope this helps. Thank you
Daneyal says
HI Swasthi,
Sometimes recipes call for heavy cream and sometimes coconut milk. I find that I am slightly more partial to the cream in flavour, but I have never substituted heavy cream for coconut milk when the recipe calls for one over the other. Is this an OK substitute to make or not a good idea in your opinion? I’m going to make this today.
Thanks!
swasthi says
Hi Daneyal,
Same here! I too prefer cream and not coconut milk much. They don’t yield the same results.Coconut milk is just a substitute and the taste will not be the same. So I prefer cashew milk when I am running out of heavy cream. I make cashew milk just by blending 1/4 cup of cashews with 1/2 to 3/4 cup water until very very smooth. This gives almost the same taste and texture to the gravy as that of heavy cream. Hope this helps
Rahul Thacker MD says
Thanks
Cooked yesterday, turned out to be superb! Same kind of color and great taste.Great for my Keto lifestyle.
I will try out your other recipes as plenty of time during CONVID-19 shut down in California and of course everywhere else.
swasthi says
Hi Dr. Rahul,
Glad to know it turned out good. Thank you! Stay safe
Sarah says
Hi Swasthi, first of all I love your blog!!
I want to try the Chicken Korma recipe, but forgot to buy cashews. I have a lot of almonds though. Can I take 10 almonds instead of 6 cashews and 4 almonds? Thank you 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Sarah,
Thank you! Yes you can use about 10 almonds. Hope you enjoy it
Sarrah Ghor says
Hi do i need to fry the onions fresh can i use previously fried onions and if yes, do i cook the nuts separately or do i dorectly put it all in the blender to make paste?
swasthi says
Hi Sarrah,
Yes you can use fried onions. You can add the raw nuts directly to the blender.
Manisha Patwardhan says
Superb recipes…..the quantity and instructions are on the mark.
swasthi says
Thank you Manisha
Jelena says
I just made this today and it was delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
swasthi says
Hi Jelena
You are welcome. Glad you liked it.
thank you
Kavana says
Hi, i added onion little more to the paste… So is it give any bad taste?
And gravy turns into white colour
swasthi says
Hi Kavana
For best results pls follow the recipe without any changes
Carla says
Very yummy! How thick should the gravy get? It was a little thin and didn’t coat the chicken.
My husband said it tasted like some more, lol.
Thanks for a great recipe!
swasthi says
Hi Carla,
Thank you! The gravy should coat the chicken. You can cook further to thicken it. Usually it thickens upon cooling. Hope this helps
Warren says
Tastes great. Nice dish. I have marinaded the chicken for the 30 mins. Is there a maximum length of time you would suggest to marinade?
swasthi says
Hi Warren
Thank you! You can keep the marinated chicken for upto 24 hours in fridge.
Simal Kaur says
Hi please tell me the quantity of onions for 1full chotta chicken ???
Please reply
swasthi says
Hi Simal,
I guess a small chicken can be anywhere in between half to 3/4 kg. You can use about 1 1/2 cup onions.
Simal Kaur says
Ok thanks alot
Noella says
The recipe calls for 2 green cardamoms in the paste and 1 more for the gravy. Yet when sautéing cardamom for the paste the recipe says to put 4 cardamoms in the pan. Which is the correct number to use for the paste.
Are the cardamoms then added to the blender along with the onions, nuts and yogurt?
swasthi says
Hi Noella,
Please use only 2. Yes they go to the blender with onions, nuts & yogurt.
Mary says
What kind of green chilies do you use? I didn’t see them in the video. Thanks!
swasthi says
Hi Mary,
I have not used green chilli since my young kids cannot yet eat them. You can skip or use any kind of mild green chilies that are not too hot. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Roger Thomas says
Great, easy to follow and super resilt. Thanks
swasthi says
Welcome Roger
Jenny says
Absolutely delish and so easy. We had ours with roti and it was perfectly filling. We don’t eat much meat in our home so decided to substitute the chicken with a sliced up Quorn roast. It was moist and just as flavorful. Thank you!
swasthi says
Hi Jenny,
You are welcome. Glad it turned out delicious. I had never come across Quorn roast until I read your comment. Thank you!
🙂
Dawn says
This looks amazing, but I’m trying to remain dairy free. Do you think I could use coconut milk instead of yogurt?
swasthi says
Hi Dawn,
Thank you. Yes you can use coconut milk instead of yogurt. Just skip the yogurt in the marinade. Add some coconut milk to blend the onions. Hope you enjoy the chicken korma.
Dawn says
Thank you!
Shrubali says
Thanks for this brilliant and simple recipe…
swasthi says
Welcome Shrubali
Marlene Granger says
This Chicken Korma was the best.
Tasty and so yummy
Thanks
swasthi says
Welcome Marlene,
Glad to know your korma turned out the best.
Thank you so much!