You cannot imagine how excited I am to share this recipe with you. Also I almost cried when I first tried it, it has been a while since I had a really tasty chicken curry. That’s why I wanted to teach you how to make this homey and traditional Indian chicken curry recipe that my Indian friend Ebaani gave me. So thank you so much Ebaani and also thanks to your mom for sharing this recipe with me.
Ebaani and I where in culinary school together in London. One day she came over to my house and we made an Indian dinner for a bunch of friends. I was paying real close attention to everything she did because I really LOVE Indian food but I had never made it before. I’m really proud of making and nailing this recipe.
Besides from the Indian chicken curry I also made Naan. If you’re not familiar with Naan it’s a delicious and quick to make bread. It’s perfect to catch bits of sauce that stay behind on the plate. It’s really spectacular. I painted it with butter, salt and garlic which is really common and yummy. I recommend you make it as well :).
For an Indian chicken curry to be really tasty you have to watch out for two things. The first is the cooking of the onion at the beginning. You really want it to caramelise and turn brown. This part of the dish is what takes the most time but it’s essential to achieve the best result. The second thing is the spices. I know that it’s sometimes hard to find some of them. I actually had a hard time finding coriander seeds. Try to get all of them but if you can’t at least get most of them and make the recipe anyway, don’t let that stop you :).
I made my own Garam Masala, which is a spice mix used commonly in Indian cuisine. The nice thing about it is that the spices and quantities differ between regions in India and also between families. I used Ebaani’s mom spice mix and loved it! If you cannot get any of these spices whole you can replace them with their powdered version. If you do though, remember to toast them slightly in the pan before using. You’ll have an excess of Garam Masala but that’s good because it’s great in many recipes. If you’re going to buy Garam Masala instead of making it yourself then also take time to toast it on a pan previously so it lets go of all its flavours.
Ingredients
For the basmati rice
- 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 cup basmati rice or long grain rice
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the Naan bread
- 450 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast or 2 tsp dry yeast ot 4 tsp fresh yeast
- 150 ml lukewarm milk
- 150 g natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil + more for proofing and cooking
- 1 egg
To paint the Naan bread
- 50 g unsalted butter melted
- 1 garlic clove finely grated or minced
- 1 tsp salt
For the garam masala
- 38 g cumin whole
- 38 g coriander seeds whole
- 1 tsp cardamom pods
- 1 tsp black pepper whole
- 1 small bayleaf
- 1/2 tsp cloves whole
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
For the chicken curry
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 1/2 large brown / yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 5 g peeled ginger
- 2 small tomatoes
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp chili powder adjust to your tolerance to spiciness
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 60 ml water
- 2 chicken breasts in cubes
- 1 tbsp whipping cream
- 1 tsp unsalted butter
- Salt to taste
- Coriander or mint to garnish
Instructions
For the basmati rice
- Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the rice and mix constantly for a minute.
- Add the salt and water and mix. When it starts to boil reduce the heat to a minimum and put a lid on the pot.
- Cook for 15-20min or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove the lid and use a fork to fluff up the rice.
For the Naan bread
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
- Knead the dough until it’s homogeneous and shiny.
- Drizzle a bit of vegetable or canola oil in a bowl and place the dough inside. Turn it so it gets coated with the oil. This will help prevent it from drying out as it proofs.
- Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and let the dough proof for one hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Divide the dough in 6 portions and stretch them to 2-3mm thick using a rolling pin.
- Preheat a pan on really high heat until it begins to smoke. Paint a bit of vegetable oil on the pan and place a portion of Naan on top. You’ll see it puff up and from then give it a couple seconds and turn it around for a few extra seconds.
- Place the bread in a bowl and cover them with a kitchen cloth so they stay warm. You can paint them with a mix of butter and salt or also add garlic like I did.
For the garam masala
- Place all the ingredients on a baking tray and into a preheated oven at 180C for 3-5min. We want them to be nice and golden but they also burn pretty fast so keep an eye on them.
- To grind them up I used a mortar and pestle and did it in 4-5 sections. You could also use a spice grinder or a food processor.
- If you can’t find any of the spices in their whole version you can replace for their ground version. You should still toast them a bit on a pan on low heat and stirring constantly since they are ready really fast.
For the chicken curry
- Blend the onion, garlic and ginger. Also blend the tomatoes but keep them separate.
- Place a pot over medium heat and add the oil. Cook the onion purée in there. At first it will release lots of water and you will only have to stir occasionally but as it dries up you need to be more careful because it will start to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- It’s ready when the mix has completely caramelized and it has a brown colour.
- Add the blended tomatoes and mix constantly until it thickens up and you can clearly see the bottom of the pan when you stir.
- Add the spices and mix. Then add the chicken and the water and place a lid on the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook the chicken for 10-15min or until nice and tender.
- Add the cream and butter, mix and correct the salt level. To garnish it would be more traditional to use coriander but I can't stand it so I went for fresh mint.
Notes
4 comments
I’m going to make this at the weekend!
Amazing Jackie!! You’ll love it, this recipe is SO good!
Where does tue whipping cream get put in??
Hi! Thanks for letting me know it was missing – I have updated it now 🙂