I've been making this chicken curry for over 15 years. It's a from-scratch, family recipe that never fails to impress. For me, it's nostalgia on a plate!
Traditional taste, comfort food at its best, what's not to like?
Chicken curries in Pakistan vary from region to region, just like they do in India. Some are thinner and almost soupy, like chicken shorba, which is common in Punjab. Others are thick and rich, more like the kind you'd find at South Asian restaurants in the West. Neither style is more authentic than the other. They're just different ways of making chicken curry.
My curry sits somewhere in the middle. It’s thick enough to scoop up with roti or naan, and great over rice, but it’s not cooked down too far.
Mothers and grandmothers in Pakistan rarely use store-bought curry powders or pastes for this kind of basic curry, so this heirloom recipe doesn’t include them either. Sure, they’re convenient, but nothing really beats the flavor you get from mixing your own spices and using fresh aromatics.
The cooking method is fairly simple. I fry the onions, then blend them up with tomatoes and chilies. After that, I cook that puree down with the spices and aromatics, and add the chicken in. To round out all the flavors, I mix in some lemon juice and chopped fresh cilantro/coriander.
Btw, if you’re into chicken curries, you should try my potato and chicken curry too. It’s really good, and also stretches the chicken a bit more, which makes it great when you’re feeding a crowd.
Pre-cooking notes and tips
- If you can, use homemade or freshly made ginger garlic paste. The stuff from the store just doesn’t taste the same and won’t do this curry any favors.
- Yellow or red onions both work just fine. Use whichever one you already have or can get easily.
- Fresh green chilies come in many different varieties, and their heat can vary a lot from one to another. So adjust the quantity to suit your spice tolerance. I use small green Thai chilies.
- I use Roma tomatoes for pretty much all my desi cooking. When shopping, I look for the reddest, ripest ones I can find.
- If the tomatoes aren’t fully ripe or it’s not tomato season, I add a little tomato paste (not sauce). It helps pep up the flavor and gives the gravy a deeper red color, too. Usually, I use about a tablespoon for every pound of chicken. I still keep the fresh tomatoes in the same quantity, though, since they give the curry its body and bulk.
- You can swap lime juice for lemon juice. It’s a bit stronger and more tart, so you don’t need quite as much. For every tablespoon of lemon juice, use about 2 teaspoons of lime.
- I get skinless, bone-in chicken from my desi butcher and ask for karahi cut. That usually comes out to around 16 to 20 pieces per chicken, depending on the weight. Most people use curry cut for salan and shorba, which is usually about 12 to 14 pieces, but I prefer them smaller for faster cooking. It’s better to go by weight with chicken. Guessing the number of pieces will give you inconsistent results.
- You can use boneless chicken, but bone-in tends to have more flavor. Bones release a rich, brothy taste as they cook.
Serving ideas
Since this curry is neither too thick nor too runny, it pairs equally well with rice and roti/naan. If roti or naan are hard to find where you live, you can also use plain, unflavored flatbreads like pita, khubz, lavash, or tortillas.
And that's a wrap!
It’s funny how I didn’t fully appreciate Pakistani food when I lived there. Now that I’m thousands of miles away, it’s become my favorite cuisine. I love food from all over the world, I really do, but dishes like this chicken curry are what I gravitate toward most.
If you give this one a try, I’d love to hear how it turned out in your kitchen.
Happy cooking ~ Nelo
Chicken Curry Recipe (Chicken Salan)
Ingredients
For Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder - aka dhaniya powder
- 1.5 teaspoons kasuri methi - aka dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 teaspoons salt - regular white salt
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder - aka haldi
Other Ingredients
- ⅓ cup cooking oil - or ghee
- 1 medium (100 g) onion - finely sliced
- 3 medium (300 g) tomatoes - cut into 4 pieces each. I use Roma tomatoes
- 2 small green chilies - I use Thai/birds eye chilies
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste - optional (Note A)
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste - homemade
- 1 tablespoons ginger paste - homemade
- 1 pound (500 g) bone-in chicken pieces - skinless (Note B)
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro - aka coriander/dhaniya
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice - freshly squeezed
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the ingredients listed under "spice mix" and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook until it's golden brown. It goes from golden brown to dark brown very quickly, so keep an eye.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the pot and transfer them to a blender jar. Leave the remaining oil behind in the pot. Also add tomato pieces and green chilies to the jar, then blend until completely smooth.
- Transfer this puree to the same pot, along with the optional tomato paste and cook covered on medium-low heat until the oil starts to separate. Stir occasionally.
- Add garlic and ginger pastes, cook for 2 minutes. Then add the spice mix you made earlier, along with 4 tablespoons water, and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium-high (or medium if your burner is too strong). Add chicken, stir and cook until it's no longer pink. Then add 1 cup water, or more, if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- Cover with lid, bring the curry to a simmer, then reduce the heat just enough to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the oil starts to separate. Stir occasionally.
- Add chopped cilantro/coriander and lemon juice, mix well, and cook covered for 5 minutes on low heat. Taste the curry and adjust salt, if needed. Serve hot with naan, roti, or steamed basmati rice.
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