Chicken Curry - Home style chicken curry

Every Indian family has their own recipe for a simple and comforting chicken curry. I am happy to share with you my mom's chicken curry that I grew up with. This is not the usual restaurant curry. It's a perfectly seasoned curry with tantalizing flavors of everyday ingredients from a typical Indian pantry, a classic home-cooked dish and a treasured recipe full of Mom's love!

This delicious curry with an earthy onion-tomato based flavor and warm aromas of fresh ginger, garlic, turmeric and Garam Masala is prepared in no time.

Ingredients

• 800 g chicken thighs (skinless and boneless)

or chicken breast fillet (without skin), cut into 2 x 3 cm pieces

• 300 ml water

• 3 ½ tbsp. vegetable oil

• 2 ½ cm cinnamon stick

• 4 pieces of cloves

• 4 green cardamom pods

• 4 medium red onions, grated

• 1 tbsp. ginger paste

• 1 tbsp. garlic paste

• ½ tsp ground turmeric

• 1 ½ tbsp. ground coriander

• 1 ½ tbsp. Bhuna Jeera (roasted and ground cumin)

• ¾ tsp Kashmiri chili powder

• 200 g strained tomatoes

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp. Garam Masala

• 1 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves

Instructions

Place the meat in a large bowl and set aside.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat, add the cinnamon stick, cloves as well as the cardamom pods and let them steep in the oil for 1 minute. When the spices change color, add the onions and fry for 4 minutes until golden brown.

Add the ginger paste and garlic paste to the pan and fry for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then add turmeric, ground coriander, roasted and ground cumin and chili powder and stir well. Pour in the strained tomatoes and simmer for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oil is on top.

Gradually add chicken and salt, stirring in the onion-tomato-spice mixture. Increase the heat level to high and simmer for 5 minutes until the chicken pieces are well coated with the sauce. Then add 300 ml of water and bring to a boil. Put a lid on and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through and tender.

Then sprinkle with Garam Masala and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with Chapatis or Basmati Rice and with a bowl of yogurt.

Tips

• The curry paste in this recipe has incredibly deep flavors, can be prepared in advance and used as a base in many other curries. The curry paste also freezes well, so making a double batch is always recommended.

• If the recipe calls for roasted and ground cumin, do not substitute this for regular ground cumin as the desired aroma and flavor will not be achieved.

I look forward to hearing from you...

...if you like my blog, my recipes inspire you and your curiosity for Indian cuisine has been piqued.

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