Chicken Curry

What Chicken Curry is

This is the plain, home-style chicken curry that most households cook, not a restaurant preparation. Bone-in chicken is simmered in a masala of browned onion, tomato, ginger and garlic until the oil separates and floats. It is thinner and sharper than butter chicken and gets its body from the bones rather than dairy.

Dietary: Dairy-freeGluten-free with rice

Where it comes from

There is no single chicken curry — the name covers a family of dishes that changes house by house, let alone region by region. What is broadly shared in North Indian and Nepali kitchens is the sequence: brown onion, bloom spice, cook out tomato until the fat splits, then add the meat. Learn that order and most curries on a menu become legible.

How to eat it

Bone-in curry is eaten slowly, and the bones are expected to be picked up. With rice, spoon gravy over a portion at a time. With roti, tear a piece, fold it into a rough scoop and use it to lift meat and sauce together — the bread should do the work a fork would. A plate for bones is normal. The layer of separated oil on top is a sign the masala was cooked properly, not a fault.

Goes well with

• Plain rice
• Roti or naan
• Sliced onion, lemon and green chilli

Ingredients

• 1 kg Bone-in chicken, cut into pieces — Bone-in; boneless makes a thinner, flatter gravy.
• 3 medium Onions, finely chopped
• 3 medium Tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 1 to 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp Garam masala — Added at the end.
• 4 tbsp Mustard oil or vegetable oil
• to finish Coriander leaf

Spices in this dish

• Turmeric — Warm, faintly bitter, slightly musky and earthy, with a mustard-like pungency in…
• Cumin — Warm, earthy and slightly bitter, with a nutty, faintly smoky edge that intensif…
• Coriander Seed — Sweet, citrusy and faintly floral, with a warm, nutty background that deepens wh…
• Chilli — Heat varies enormously by variety, from the mild, mostly-for-color Kashmiri chil…
• Garam Masala — Warm, sweet-savory and deeply fragrant rather than hot — garam masala carries al…
• Curry Masala — Turmeric-forward and yellow, with a coriander-cumin base, moderate chilli heat a…
• Ginger-Garlic — Sharp, pungent and almost unpleasantly raw straight from the blender — the 'raw …

How to cook it

1. 1Brown the onions past golden

   Fry the chopped onion in the oil for twelve to fifteen minutes until deep brown. This is where the colour and the sweetness of the gravy come from, and it cannot be shortened by raising the heat without burning it.

2. 2Cook out the ginger and garlic

   Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for two minutes until the raw smell goes. Raw garlic left in the base gives the finished curry a harsh edge.

3. 3Add ground spices to the fat, not the water

   Stir in turmeric, coriander, cumin and chilli and fry for thirty seconds. Ground spices release their flavour into oil, not water, so they go in before the tomato.

4. 4Cook the tomato until the oil separates

   Add the tomatoes and salt and cook, stirring, until the mixture darkens, thickens and oil pools visibly at the edges. This is the single most reliable doneness cue in the whole technique — until it happens, the masala is not finished.

5. 5Seal the chicken in the masala

   Add the chicken and turn it in the masala over medium-high heat for five minutes so every surface is coated and lightly browned.

6. 6Simmer, then finish with garam masala

   Add hot water to come halfway up, cover, and simmer for twenty-five minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir in the garam masala, rest off the heat for five minutes, and scatter coriander over.

Calories and nutrition

Per serving — 1 portion with rice (about 400 g)

Approximate values for a typical restaurant portion, calculated from standard ingredient tables. Actual figures vary with the kitchen, the oil used and the portion served. Not intended as medical or dietary advice.

Other dishes to read about

• Chicken Momo — Nepal's steamed dumpling, eaten by hand with a bowl of sesame-tomato achar.
• Veg Momo — The vegetarian momo, where the filling has to be seasoned harder to carry itself.
• Butter Chicken — Tandoori chicken finished in a tomato and cream gravy — mild, and deliberately so.
• Lamb Curry — Bone-in lamb cooked slowly until the sauce thickens around it.
• Chicken Biryani — Rice and marinated chicken layered raw, then sealed and steamed together.
• Mutton Biryani — The same method as chicken biryani, but the meat sets the timing.