The one recipe which I have made the maximum number of times so far in my life is undoubtedly this homestyle chicken curry of mine. After indulging in all the fancy recipes, we keep coming back to the root and enjoy this comfort food of ours that is this homestyle chicken curry!
Curry is an integral part of Indian cuisine and hence today I bring to you the most cooked curry of mine – my signature homestyle chicken curry! This is our Sunday special dish and surprisingly enough we have never got bored of it!
We relish our homestyle chicken curry with plain white rice. This is the ultimate comfort food when we want something homely yet tasty with a perfectly balanced meal!
Curries have various versions with each one having their distinct uniqueness. Hence you will find variations, sometimes subtle & sometimes significant, in the recipes of good old chicken curry!
But all of them taste equally good and mind-blowing without an iota of doubt!
What is homestyle chicken curry?
I named this dish my homestyle chicken curry as this is my typical method of cooking a piping hot delicious chicken curry which my family loves immensely! And I have seriously lost my count of how many times I have made it so far!
Every chicken-loving Indian family has their own version of homestyle chicken curry and each one possesses a uniqueness of its own. If you too make chicken curry frequently, you may find some similarities with mine and a few differences as well.
The diversity is what makes cooking so enchanting, right? And to satisfy our culinary soul, we keep making the same dish with different tweaks everytime and thus producing a new dish with each new experiment!
This homestyle chicken curry is also a result of one such experiment as I was not following any particular recipe; I was just going with the flow by using the typical Indian ingredients that make the base of any curry.
And thus this family favorite was born and secured its permanent place in our meals every Sunday!
Ingredients for homestyle chicken curry
Chicken: Since this is a typical chicken curry, you will need curry cut pieces of chicken which are generally skinless but bone-in pieces. Get medium sized pieces as those will work best for this recipe.
Mustard oil: Being a Bengali, mustard oil is mostly used in almost all of our dishes and same goes for this homestyle chicken curry of mine. But as always, if mustard oil is too pungent for you, please feel free to use vegetable oil or any flavorless oil like canola or sunflower.
Whole spices: A unique feature of Indian recipes is tempering the oil before starting to cook any meat or veggie. When whole spices like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and dry red chillies are thrown in the warm oil, they start releasing their flavors into the oil which in turn infuses the chicken (or veggies) making them distinctly delicious.
Fresh green chilli: A typical homestyle chicken curry is generally spicy as we Indians are known to be spice lovers. Adding broken fresh green chillies while tempering the oil allow them to release their flavor into the oil. But if you are not a spice person, please skip this.
Red onion: The base of this chicken curry is onion. Use red onion for best taste and you will need a generous amount of it – about 1 cup of tightly packed sliced onion.
Aromatics: Our typical Indian aromatics i.e. ginger and garlic are must for this recipe. Use the paste of both first to marinate the raw chicken and then to the curry base to add their flavors into the gravy.
Red tomato: A bright ripe red tomato is added to the gravy to balance the sweetness of onions and pungency of ginger & garlic with the mild tartness of tomato. It is the amalgamation of all the bases i.e. onion, aromatics and tomato that creates such globally appealing taste!
Powdered spices: Finally comes the powdered spices which add life & soul to any Indian dish! You will need all the usual suspects! Turmeric powder is added twice – once to marinate raw chicken and also in the curry base for gravy.
Then comes its close cousins coriander powder & cumin powder for earthy depth of flavor and Kashmiri red chilli powder for vibrant red color. You may also add a dash of regular hot chilli powder if you are a die-hard spice lover.
Seasoning: This homestyle chicken curry only needs salt as seasoning. I do not usually add black pepper to my chicken curry but if you like its flavor, you can add a few whole black peppercorns into the oil while tempering.
Coriander leaves: To finish the dish, add India’s most loved herb – the humble yet powerful fresh coriander leaves. They add a burst of freshness with tons of flavors.
How to make homestyle chicken curry?
Step 1: Wash the chicken thoroughly and drain out all the excess water. Take the chicken in a mixing bowl and add salt, ginger & garlic paste and turmeric powder. Give a good mix to allow the aromatics, seasoning and spice evenly distribute and coat each chicken piece. Set it aside until needed.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a kadai or wok. Once warm, add all the whole spices to temper the oil – green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dry red chilli and also fresh green chillies. Quickly saute them for a few seconds until they become fragrant.
Step 3: Now add the thinly sliced onion and continue to cook them on low-medium heat for 10 minutes or until they turn translucent.
Step 4: Then add the ginger & garlic paste and continue cooking them along with onion. This step of sauteing onion to perfection takes maximum time as you need to cook down the onion until they are deep brown and caramelized; else they will not melt down properly in the gravy. Also do not bring the heat too high as that may burn the onion on the exterior instead of properly softening them.
Step 5: After about 10 to 15 more minutes, add the chopped tomatoes. Continue cooking the tomatoes for 5 to 6 minutes until they soften completely and mix with onion.
Step 6: Now add the powdered spices – turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder. Saute the spices for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat until oil starts to release.
Step 7: Next add the marinated chicken pieces. Stir them in to mix with the spices & onion mixture. Continue cooking the chicken on high heat for 5 minutes until the chicken temperature is up.
Step 8: Then cover the wok and cook the chicken on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally in between. You will need to cook until oil starts to release. This is the step where flavor is built, so do not rush!
Step 9: Once oil starts to release, pour hot water into the wok; about 2 to 2 & ½ cups depending on how much gravy you want. You will have to add a little more than what you need at the end because some of the liquid will be absorbed by the chicken.
Step 10: Bring the water to boil. Then cover the wok again and bring the heat to minimum. Let the chicken simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the meat is tender and completely cooked through.
Step 11: You can check the doneness of the chicken by trying to cut it using a fork; if it cuts easily then chicken is cooked through. Also check and adjust seasoning if needed at this point.
Step 12: Now you can keep the consistency of the gravy as is or if it is too watery then boil off some excess by keeping it on high flame for a couple of minutes.
Step 13: Once you are happy with the gravy, sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves and give a final mix. Your homestyle chicken curry is ready! Serve it with hot plain rice and enjoy!
Other delicious chicken curry recipes from Flavor Quotient
- Chicken curry cut - 500 gms, bone-in & skinless
- Salt - ½ tsp
- Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
- Ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp
- Mustard oil - 4 to 5 tbsp
- Cloves - 5 to 6
- Green cardamom - 4 to 5
- Cinnamon - 2 inch stick
- Fresh green chilli - 4 to 5 (or as per your taste), broken into small pieces
- Dry red chilli - 1 to 2, broken
- Red onion - 3, large, thinly sliced (about 1 cup sliced onion)
- Ginger paste - ½ tbsp
- Garlic paste - ½ tbsp
- Red tomato - 1, large, finely chopped
- Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
- Coriander powder - 1 tsp
- Cumin powder - 1 tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tsp
- Freshly chopped coriander leaves - ½ cup
- Hot water for gravy as required
- Wash the chicken thoroughly and drain out all the excess water. Take the chicken in a mixing bowl and add salt, ginger & garlic paste and turmeric powder. Give a good mix to allow the aromatics, seasoning and spice evenly distribute and coat each chicken piece. Set it aside until needed.
- Heat the oil in a kadai or wok. Once warm, add all the whole spices to temper the oil - green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dry red chilli and also fresh green chillies. Quickly saute them for a few seconds until they become fragrant.
- Now add the thinly sliced onion and continue to cook them on low-medium heat for 10 minutes or until they turn translucent.
- Then add the ginger & garlic paste and continue cooking them along with the onion until it turns deep golden brown & softens completely.
- After about 10 to 15 more minutes, add the chopped tomatoes. Continue cooking the tomatoes for 5 to 6 minutes until they soften completely and mix with onion.
- Now add the powdered spices - turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder. Saute the spices for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat until oil starts to release.
- Next add the marinated chicken pieces. Stir them in to mix with the spices & onion mixture. Continue cooking the chicken on high heat for 5 minutes until the chicken temperature is up.
- Then cover the wok and cook the chicken on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally in between. You will need to cook until oil starts to release.
- Once oil starts to release, pour hot water into the wok; about 2 to 2 & ½ cups depending on how much gravy you want. You will have to add a little more than what you need at the end because some of the liquid will be absorbed by the chicken.
- Bring the water to boil. Then cover the wok again and bring the heat to minimum. Let the chicken simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the meat is tender and completely cooked through.
- You can check the doneness of the chicken by trying to cut it using a fork; if it cuts easily then chicken is cooked through. Also check and adjust seasoning if needed at this point.
- Now you can keep the consistency of the gravy as is or if it is too watery then boil off some excess by keeping it on high flame for a couple of minutes.
- Once you are happy with the gravy, sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves and give a final mix. Your homestyle chicken curry is ready! Serve it with hot plain rice and enjoy!
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