Chicken Curry (Home Style)

About this recipe

Chicken curry home-style is built around bone-in pieces and a careful bhuna of finely sliced onions that create something that tastes like the home kitchen rather than the restaurant—the bones release their savour into the tomato base while the yogurt tightens the sauce into something thick enough to cling. Green chillies left whole let you choose your heat with each spoonful. This is the kind of thing a grandmother would make without measuring, just by feel and taste. Bone-in chicken pieces (ask your butcher to cut them small enough for quick cooking) are better than breast meat—they stay juicy through the long simmer and release flavor into the gravy. The onion bhuna is critical: finely sliced onions fried until deeply golden, almost caramelized, which builds sweetness and the foundation for everything that follows. Ginger-garlic paste and green chillies add the aromatics; tomato puree adds body. Turmeric, Kashmiri chilli and coriander powder create the base spice. Yogurt, stirred in off-heat, prevents splitting and adds body to the sauce. The technique that matters is time and temperature. Give yourself a full ten to twelve minutes for the onion bhuna—this isn't quick cooking. The yogurt goes in off-heat, stirred in slowly, then the pan returns to gentle heat. The curry bubbles slowly and gently for twenty-five minutes, just until the chicken is tender and the gravy clings. Uncover for the last five minutes to reduce and thicken. Serve chicken curry hot with steamed basmati rice or warm phulkas. It's high-protein at 42g per serving and comfort food that tastes homemade. Keeps for four days in the fridge and freezes beautifully for up to a month. Tastes even better the next day, when the flavors have melded overnight.