What’s your definition of comfort food? Well, if you’re still wondering as to what could be good comfort food, well then here’s our suggestion: good chicken curry and some plain rice. Try it out, and you’ll thank us later.
However, you might still be thinking that cooking chicken curry the right way might be a little hectic, then that’s not the case. Making the perfect chicken curry is just as easy as cooking pie; you need to make sure that your base is ready. This recipe is more like a skill. You can make it with some of the ingredients right in your kitchen.
Long story short, let’s rock your dinner table with the infusion of the best chicken curry recipe:
What You Need:
- One large onion
- 6 roughly chopped garlic cloves
- 50g ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
- 5cm cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon of chili flakes
- 1 tablespoon of garam masala
- 1 tablespoon of turmeric
- 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 8 chicken thighs, skinned, boneless (about 800g)
- 250ml hot chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander
Let’s Make It:
- Roughly chop 1 large onion and then transfer it on a small food processor. Add 3 tablespoons of water to process it to a slack paste. You can even use a stick blender if you want or coarsely grate the onion into a bowl, but then you don’t necessarily need to add water if you grind the onion. Once done, tip it into a small bowl and leave it to move onto the next step.
- Next, add 6 roughly chopped garlic cloves and 50g roughly chopped ginger into the same food processor. Now you need to add 4 tablespoons of water to make it into a smooth mixture. And for any reason, if you can’t blend it to a mixture, crush the garlic and make it to a paste and press the garlic on a grater to finely coarse it.
- Now take 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan or wok and set the temperature to medium heat.
- Combine 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds and 1 tablespoon of fennel seed with a 5cm cinnamon stick. Additionally, add 1 tablespoon of chili flakes to the pan and swirl everything. Do this for about 30 seconds, and you will notice that the spices release a beautiful fragrant aroma.
- Remember the onion paste? Add that into this. It might splutter a bit, but don’t worry, it will evaporate over time. Fry it until the onions turn into a beautiful dark golden colour, which usually takes about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Once done, add the garlic-ginger paste and stir for another 2 minutes. Cook the mixture properly to that it doesn’t have the raw smell of the spices.
- Add in 1 tablespoon of garam masala, 1 tablespoon of turmeric and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. Keep cooking for 20 – 30 seconds before adding in the 400g can chopped tomatoes.
- Again, continue cooking the mixture at a medium heat temperature until the ripe tomatoes reduce and darken.
- Now take the 8 skinned, boneless chicken thighs into chunks. Add them to the pan once the tomatoes and the mixture have thickened.
- Cook the chicken for at least 5 minutes so that the chicken coats in the masala pretty well and seal in the juices. One last step would be to pour over the 250ml hot chicken stock.
- It might get a little watery but fret not. You will need to simmer this for a good 8 – 10 minutes without the lid until your chicken becomes tender and the masala lightly thickens. In case if your curry needs an extra ladleful of water, don’t hesitate to add it.
- Once all done, garnish your curry with 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve it with plain rice or Indian flatbreads along with a pot of yoghurt by its side, and you are good to go!
Was this that tough? We sure are not. It’s not as tough as it sounds like. Feel free to add some of your creativities to your curry once you master it and let us know about it in the comments section.
Fun Fact: Did you know there are 11 other types of chicken curry out of which this is the simplest! Speaking of which, let us know if you would want to know the recipes of Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Butter Masala or any other types.