Can an Indian live without curries? The answer to the question is undoubtedly a big ‘No’. Curries are the integral part of our daily meal. And the truth is that I just don’t survive on desserts only, however religiously I blog about baking and desserts every week. I have my tooth as sweet as the savory one. And I do a fair justice with both. So, like every other Indian, I devour on curries everyday, them being a staple in my diet. And everyday curry is mostly a seasonal vegetable stew, which I wipe off with unleavened chapatis or rice. But sometimes, when I have enough time, probably after a daytime photo shoot on weekend, I normally indulge by cooking myself a non-vegetarian curry. Otherwise, if I am too lazy to do that, I ask my friend to cook one for me.
This one, which I am sharing with you today is a finger-licking-good chicken curry recipe from Lucknow. I had a similar mutton curry at my blogger friend Deeba’s place almost an year back, and I dream about those flavors even today. Probably, that was the best mutton curry I had ever had. When I asked my friend, she told me that it’s her mother’s recipe. Family recipes have such great stories, they descend down to the generations and they never go out of fashion. I am drooling even right now, as I write about it. Such delecate and balanced flavors, mildly spiced yet so fragrant. While I was going through her blog, I came across this Chicken Korma recipe, which I came to know, is another family recipe. So, I wanted to give it a try.
Modifying it would have been a disrespect to this family classic of her’s. So I dared not to either. Only thing I did was I increased the quantity. It came out like a charm. I almost felt that I was such a good cook. But the truth is that I didn’t do anything. It was the magic in the recipe, which charmed us all. My friends licked off bowls clean and have been requesting for a redo. It had that amazing depth of flavors, which lingers on for long and make you experience the utter bliss. I would recommend this to all of you, weather you are a curry or a non-curry person. This has to be tasted once!
- 1250 gm chicken on the bones, cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup ghee {or clarified butter}
- 300 gm onions, finely sliced
- 8-10 green cardamom
- 8-10 cloves
- 2 tbsp ginger paste
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 300 gm yogurt
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp red chili powder
- Salt to taste
- Heat ghee in a wok and fry the onions until golden brown, taking care not to fry them on high.
- Drain the onions from oil and let cool completely.
- Grind the onions with 4 tbsp yogurt to make it a smooth paste. Whisk the onion paste into the remaining yogurt.
- In the same wok, with remaining ghee, add green cardamom and cloves and saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken to the wok and continue to cook in wok on high heat till nicely seared and golden {add more ghee if needed}. This will help retain the chicken's moisture inside.
- Remove the chicken from ghee and keep aside.
- Add ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, chili powder into the hot oil and mix well until it all comes together, around 1-2 minutes.
- Add the chicken back to the wok and stir for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the yogurt onion mixture to the chicken and add salt to it. Stir well and let it simmer on low, covered with a lid for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is completely cooked. By this time, the gravy should be beautifully colored and fragrant.
- Let this sit for around 30 minutes to let the flavors to mature. Serve with chapatis or basmati rice.