Amritsar Chicken Masala
We came across this dish by accident one day when looking for a new Indian dish to cook. Having followed the original recipe we found that, for our palate, it was a little too hot. The original recipe has one tablespoon of chilli powder in the marinade and four green chillies in the sauce (gravy). We cut this down to one teaspoon of chilli powder in the marinade and three green chillies in the sauce. This reduced the heat more to our liking.
The word ‘curry’ is really an anglicised word that comes from the Tamil language, ‘kari’ which means sauce or relish. So we shy away from using it to describe the whole dish when we can. Our Indian friends say that if we really must use the word curry then we should use it only in relation to the gravy for the dish. We usually serve this with our naan bread but any good flatbread is fine. This really is worth a try though as it is a truly delicious dish!
Amritsar Chicken Masala
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 1 Chicken cut into 8 pieces and skinned
- 250 ml Natural Yoghurt
- 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
- 1 tbsp Garlic Paste
- 1 medium Red Onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- ½ Lemon juiced
- 1 tsp Vinegar
- 1 pinch Salt
For the gravy
- 25 mm Ginger finely chopped
- 3 Green Chillies deseeded and finely chopped
- 475 g Fresh Tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Coriander Powder
- ½ tsp Cumin Powder
- 2 tbsp Oil we usually use rapeseed oil
- 1 tbsp Butter
For the final dish
- 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander
- 1 tbsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbsp Double Cream
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Oil we usually use rapeseed oil
Instructions
For the marinade
- We skin and joint the chicken ourselves, but most good butchers will do this for you
- Mix all the ingredients of the marinade together and rub them well into the chicken
- Leave to marinate for at least two hours
For the gravy (curry)
- Put the oil and butter into a wok (or karahi if you have one!) over a high heat until the butter has melted and is foaming in the oil
- Add the ginger and chillies and cook for about 1 minute until the rawness has gone, then add the tomatoes and cook until the oil begins to separate from the tomatoes
- When the oil has separated from the tomatoes add the chilli power, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders. Mix well and cook a little more until the oil separates again. The gravy (curry) is done! Put aside whilst you cook the chicken
Cook the chicken
- In a large pan heat the oil and butter over a high heat until the butter has melted and is foaming. Add the chicken along with the marinade
- Keep the heat high so that the chicken cooks in its own juices
- Once any water has evaporated you should be left with a layer of oil around the chicken. Turn the chicken a couple of times until it is just starting to brown. Now it's time to bring the dish together!
Finish the dish
- Add the gravy you made earlier to the chicken and mix the two together. Add about 500ml of water and mix
- Sprinkle over the garam masala, mix well and cover for around 5 minutes
- Check that the chicken is cooked – it should be falling away from the bone by now – turn off the heat and add the cream. Stir well to incorporate and you're ready to serve
- Sprinkle the chicken with a drizzle of cream (just for decoration), add some chopped coriander and some chopped green chilli. Serve with naan bread or any other flatbread and enjoy!
