This Punjabi chicken curry has a thick sauce and a lovely, somewhat spicy flavor. More serrano peppers can be added to increase the heat. Serve with chapati or flatbread or over rice.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
- 1 cup water
- 1 small tomato, coarsely chopped
- 1 serrano chile pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 8 chicken legs, skin removed
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oil and ghee in a large pot over medium heat. Cook cumin seeds in hot oil-ghee mixture until seeds begin to change color.
- Stir in onion; cook and stir until onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; continue cooking until onions are browned, about 5 minutes more.
- Mix in water, tomato, serrano pepper, tomato paste, garam masala, turmeric, and salt; simmer for 5 minutes. Lay chicken into sauce; mix gently to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until chicken is no longer pink near the bone, about 40 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 325 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 102 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 395 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Delightfully tender- fall off the bone style I’ll make this again. I’ll add so many things
Delicious. I have no idea how anyone can say this lacks flavor unless they misread the ingredients. I made it as written except used a jalapeño instead of Serrano as that was what I had on hand, and also added some fresh curry leaves. I seasoned some thin boneless chicken breast cutlets with Indian spices and seared in a cast iron pan with a little veg oil then simmered in the sauce for a few minutes. Served over basmati rice. Perfect, quick, tasty!
It turned out to be an outstanding dish. I was truly impressed with its simplicity and the end product was an awesome and yummy dish. Quick and Easy. Instructions were precise and left no room for error. Loved the dish. Thank you.
This recipe is a disaster. Not enough flavour or thickness. Lot of fixing needed.
Spectacular recipe, we made this and enjoyed it very much. We frequently eat out at Indian places and we found this one to be very flavourful and a great balance of spices we followed measurements exactly. Thanks!
Turned out really great. Don’t understand the low ratings. It does have salt in recipe but one rater said it didn’t. No adjustments were needed. I used chicken leg/thigh combo and so I cooked for around 55 minutes and the chicken fell off the bone. Even my picky kids ate it. This is a super quick and rich with spice and flavor easy to make dish.
Amazing flavor!
Surprisingly simple to cook and very tasty Punjabi dhaba style chicken
this curry is great and the taste is exlusive. Best to be eaten with hot chapati
This is the first Indian dish I’ve been able to make that’s just as good as my favorite resteraunt. I didn’t take shortcuts except for the ghee, I used butter. Fresh ginger and garlic are worth the effort I think.
Wow good.
Awesome dish. If you follow the recipe 100% it’ll come out tasteful and delicious.
A great dish! Made this first time without the serrano chile pepper (kept the heat out, due to family members who cannot eat spicy foods) and used chicken breast, instead of legs. All in all a definite keeper. Can’t wait to make it again…two ways (one no pepper, the other pepper). The sauce/gravy is the best when ladle on rice, although at first I thought it was a little on thin side, might try adding a small amount of flour to thicken it next time, but as I said a keeper for sure!
Third time making it and I still love it! I have had to change a some bits of it though as have to make do with what I had at home. I’ve used a Peruvian pepper instead of Serrano. Coconut milk instead of water. Bit more salt and cilantro. And turmeric was exchanged for a Spanish spice that added a beautiful orange color but followed the same measurements.
I made this curry 2 nights ago and we thought it was amazing. my 4 year old even asked for 2nd helpings! I’m have no idea why a few people have given it such a low eating, it is definitely worthy of 4 or 5 stars. The only recommendation I’d have, is to double the sauce, because you’d definitely like to have more of this sauce.
This recipe is horrible. I’ve been to the Middle East and love curries and all the accompanying spices and flavors. I used all fresh ingredients, it’s like spaghetti sauce. It’s what you’d get if you asked a white middle age suburban mom to make her version of curry. This recipe needs to be scrapped.
I LOVED this recipe! Just be sure that you use boneless chicken instead of regular, bone in legs. Otherwise, don’t change anything!
This is a great chicken curry that is a regular for me, I add a teaspoon of chilli powder and 1 green chilli to spice it up and serve with naan and yoghurt, yum!
This was delicious! I added a few extras such as fresh spinach for color and chicken stock instead of water. I loved it and plan on making it again and again!
We will make it again. probably less salt next time.
Husband and I both loved this recipe. I followed some suggestions in other reviews: used chicken thighs (skinless, boneless), chicken broth instead of water, 3 small tomatoes instead of one, and added Biryani paste (I could not find Tandoori paste in my store). I was scared to use a full teaspoon of salt when I added the Biryani paste, but I could have done it without a problem. Served with jasmine rice and sautéed green beans. Will make again! (I hear my husband in the kitchen sneaking the last of the leftovers, gotta run!)