Chicken Handi

About this recipe

Chicken handi is slow cooking done right—bone-in chicken thighs braise gently in a clay pot until the meat slides from the bone and the sauce has reduced to a silken gloss. The earthiness of the clay infuses the yogurt base with subtle depth, creating flavours far richer than you'd achieve in metal. This is patient cooking that rewards you with tender meat and a gravy so good you'll want to soak bread into every drop. The dish is as much about ritual as it is about taste. The hero ingredients are the slow-cooked onions (browned deeply, taking 12 minutes), the tomato puree (which builds the base), and the bone-in chicken (which releases savour as it cooks). Kashmiri chilli powder colours the whole thing a warm maroon, while coriander and cumin powders add earthiness. The yogurt stirred in at the end should never break—stir it in slowly, a spoonful at a time, over low heat. Kasuri methi and slit green chillies finish the dish. The technique is all about patience and low heat. Heat your oil in the handi, brown your onions deep brown—this takes 12 minutes and there's no shortcut. Add ginger-garlic, cook until raw smell goes, then tomato puree with all your dry spices and salt. Cook 10 minutes until the mixture looks like thick paste and oil separates. Beat yogurt with a spoon of water, lower heat, and stir in slowly so it doesn't break. Add chicken and a cup of water, cover tight and slow-gently bubble for 25 minutes. The chicken should be tender, the sauce silken. Finish with ghee, kasuri methi, garam masala, and slit green chillies. Serve straight from the handi with naan or rice. This is food that feels special and tastes like home cooking at its best. Store in the fridge for three days.