Indian Chicken Curry

Introduction

Believe it or not, the word “curry” simply means sauce. There is no one particular spice that is used in chicken curry, but most often chicken curry is made with some sort of tomato based sauce, and with spices such as coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, and many others. Curry powder may also be used, although it’s not an essential ingredient. I prepared this South Asian chicken curry with bone-in chicken thighs. I think bones give the chicken more flavor. When I make curries I usually prefer to use dark meat, since it doesn’t cook as fast as white meat and won’t come out as dry. Feel free to use boneless chicken, but I suggest you stick with the dark meat. There are tons of variations of chicken curry recipes, depending on the regions. I consider this particular recipe very balanced, not too mild and not too overpowering. I hope you enjoy it!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg of bone-in chicken thighs (skin removed)

• 1 large onion (about 250 grams), finely chopped

• 2 medium sized tomatoes (chopped)

• 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste (just mince ginger and garlic together)

• 1.5 teaspoons of garam masala

• 1 teaspoon of paprika

• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

• 1 teaspoon of curry powder

• 1 teaspoon of red chili powder

• 1/3 teaspoon of turmeric powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

• 2-3 of green cardamon pods

• 2-3 bay leaves

• some boiled water

• 1 tablespoon of chopped green chili

• about 1/3 cup of vegetable oil

• salt (to taste)

• 1 teaspoon of tomato paste (optional)

• some chopped parsley (quantity is up to you, I usually use about 1/4 cup)

Instructions

1. Heat up the oil in the pan.

2. When the oil becomes hot, immediately add cumin seeds and cardamon pods. Stir for no more than 30 seconds.

3. Add onions and stir them until they become golden brown. This usually takes about 10 minutes, but sometimes it requires more time.

4. When the onions turn golden brown, add ginger-garlic paste and stir for about 30 seconds and then add chopped green chilies. Stir for another 30 seconds.

5. After that, add all of the turmeric, curry powder, chili powder, and paprika. Stir for 30 seconds.

6. Now it’s time to add chicken. Add all of it to the bowl and stir. Add black pepper. Close the lid for 10 minutes and let the chicken cook.

7. After giving the chicken time to cook, add all of the tomatoes to the dish, garam masala and salt. (Tip: I recommend to always be conservative with salt; and then at the end, add more if needed needed.)

8. Close the lid and let it simmer for about 15 more minutes. After 15 minutes chicken should be mostly covered with the sauce. Use your judgement to add more water to the sauce if needed.

9. Taste the sauce. If you need more salt, add it. If you feel like the curry can take a bit more of acidity, add the tomato paste to it and let it cook for another minute or two.

10. Your curry is now ready! Just add chopped cilantro to it and enjoy it with either rice or naan! Don’t forget to remove cardamon pods and bay leaves.