restaurant style aloo chaat chicken curry

Want something different? Something that isn’t the same 10 curries you make over and over? Aloo chaat chicken curry is one of the tastiest Indian curries you have never heard of.

Aloo chaat chicken curry doesn’t exist on a menu anywhere that I’m aware of. I made it up. It’s different from the run-of-the-mill curries you see on almost every Indian restaurant menu.

And what makes it special is the chaat masala. That really gives it a distinctive tang. If you’ve never had chaat you have no idea what I’m talking about.

But if you have, you know. I’m loving the chaat masala these days. Different. In a funky, good way.  

Dinner table scene with aloo chicken curry in an brass handled bowl.

Aloo chaat chicken curry is a take on Indian street food

Think fried potatoes are tossed in a mix of spices, green chilies and maybe some lemon or lime juice. Sound good? Aloo chaat. Indian street food.

That’s the inspiration here. Takes the flavours of aloo chaat and runs with it. Street food becomes restaurant curry. 

The big flavour here comes from the chaat masala. Without it, it’s just another curry with potatoes and chicken. I’m not saying that is a bad thing. I’m saying it can be better. Something special.

Your choice of chaat masala matters. The key ingredient in chaat masala- the one that really makes it – is black salt. It’s important. Gives it the distinctive tang.

Some chaat masalas have it. Some don’t. Not sure why that is. Read the ingredients and make sure the one you get has it. Or you can make chaat masala yourself.

If you can’t find a chaat masala with black salt you can just buy some at your Indian grocer.Black salt is kala namak in Hindi. Just ask for it. It’s cheap. Just add a pinch of it in when you add your chaat masala. Easy fix.

Close-up of aloo chicken curry in a bowl.

This is cooking Indian restaurant style

It’s a pretty straightforward and follows the Indian restaurant technique exactly. Do yourself a favour and read that post first. There are pictures and a video to help you understand.

Prep your ingredients. Make your curry base. Have some heated and ready to go. Pre-cook your meat. Measure out your ingredients. Put on some old clothes – the curry sputters.

Make this aloo chaat chicken curry as written. Or make it with lamb. That works too. Or use chickpeas. Makes a great potato curry. Lot’s of possibilities.

Restaurant style aloo chaat chicken curry. May not be the most common dish on restaurant menus but it should be.

Aloo chicken curry surrounded by bowls of chana masala and beef keema.
Aloo chicken curry in an Indian copper bowl from the front.
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4.70 from 10 votes

restaurant style aloo chaat chicken curry

Restaurant style aloo chaat chicken curry is a tangy, medium spicy curry. The chaat masala adds a distinctive taste and the potatoes add a bit of variety to the usual meat or vegetable curry.
Course Main
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2
Calories 664kcal
Author romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

The spice mix

  • 2 tsp hot madras curry powder or use indian restaurant mix powder if you don’t have any madras curry powder
  • 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder or 1/4 tsp cayenne mixed with 3/4 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp kasoor methi – dried fenugreek leaves
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

The curry ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp oil
  • 1/2 large onion minced
  • 1 green chili seeded and minced
  • 1 Tbsp garlic/ginger paste – recipe link below
  • 1 Tbsp tomato paste with enough water to dilute to the consistency of pasatta
  • 15 oz curry base – recipe link below
  • 10-12 oz pre-cooked chicken
  • 8 small new potatoes – pre-cooked
  • 1 1/2 tsp chaat masala powder available at any Indian grocery
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • Juice of 1/6 lemon – around 1 tsp or so

Instructions

  • Make the spice mix.
  • Dilute the tomato paste with enough water to get to the consistency of passata.
  • Heat your frying pan (don’t use non-stick) briefly over medium heat. Add the oil.
  • Add the onions and stir constantly until the edges of the onions start to brown. This takes about a minute or two, depending how hot your pan is. Mix in the green chili and cook another 30 seconds or so.
  • Next comes the garlic ginger paste. Add it into the pan and cook it, stirring constantly, until it stops sputtering.
  • Turn down the heat and add the spice mix. This is the critical step. Stir it constantly for 30 seconds. If it starts to darken lift the pan off the heat. You want the spice mix to cook in the oil but not burn.
  • Turn the heat up to medium high. This is important. The heat is what makes the curry base do its magic. Gives the curry it's Indian restaurant flavour. As you become more comfortable with this technique try pushing it. Add the diluted tomato paste and stir until bubbles form (the oil will likely separate). This takes around 30 seconds to one minute depending on the heat.
  • Add 3 oz of curry base. Stir until bubbles form (little craters really), around 30 seconds. Think lively boil. Watch the edges of the pan. The curry can stick here. Sticking is OK. Just scrape it back into the base. Burning is bad.
  • Now add 6 oz of curry base and stir briefly. Let it cook until the bubbles form again. This takes 1-2 minutes.
  • Add the rest of the curry base and let cook until the bubbles form. Turn the heat down to low and add the chaat masala powder, pre-cooked chicken and potatoes.
  • Let the curry simmer for about 5 minutes. If it gets too thick add a bit more curry base. Don’t add water.
  • Mix in the lemon juice and coriander leaves.
  • Garnish with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and serve.

Notes

The recipe for curry base is here.
The recipe for indian restaurant spice mix is here
The recipe for garlic ginger paste is here.
If you haven’t read about Indian restaurant technique yet, do that before you start cooking.
Have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go.
If you are making multiple curries, have your curry base warming in a pot on the stove. If you are just making one, microwave it to warm it up right before you start cooking.
Indian restaurants pre-cook their meat so it’s ready for service. This recipe assumes the same. To pre-cook chicken, simply simmer it with a bit of curry powder and salt in chicken stock for about 10-15 minutes – until it’s barely cooked.
To pre-cook lamb or beef, do the same but plan for 1 to 1/2 hours for lamb and 2 hours or more for beef. You are making stew meat so you are braising until tender. You will need to keep an eye on the level of the stock. For beef use beef stock.

Nutrition

Serving: 2servings | Calories: 664kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 1049mg | Potassium: 1919mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 595IU | Vitamin C: 68.9mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 5.1mg

17 thoughts on “restaurant style aloo chaat chicken curry”

  1. 5 stars
    Hi Romain, another great recipe! My youngest (who is still a somewhat picky eater despite my best efforts) exclaimed that “this is as good as coriander lemon chicken, 10/10!”. I agree with him!

    Ps. I also tried your quesadilla-barbacoa tip for lunch as I had some leftover wheat tortillas. Super good!! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Tell him lemon coriander chicken is one my all time favourites as well:-). I like this one a lot as well. A bit different but so tasty!

  2. Another quote from a book of Mike Süsser: “Cooking starts where the recipe ends”. I believe that this means that the taste leads. The recipe is a blueprint of what we are going to realize. The better the recipe, the better the start of the cooking… Cooking technique is the key, next to fresh and quality ingredients. By the way, last week I was eating with my daughter at a Gordon Ramsay Burger restaurant in London. It was amazing! One of the best burgers we ever had!
    I don’t know what you think about Gordon, but it was really tasty and quality stuff! I liked it.

    Reply
    • Cooking starts where the recipe ends. That is the sign of a cook. There are always little adjustments in technique (is my heat just right? Is it time to stir? Does it need a touch more salt? Or a little more acid?) that make the final dish better. Every stove is different. Every pan is different. And every cook is different. I try to provide the guide but ultimately I am not in the kitchen with you. I love this.

  3. 5 stars
    Dear Romain, you did it again, and of course without an ‘oops’! SOOO tasty, fresh, yummy, delicious, etc. etc. etc. Again the whole family was having fun with dinner! Last time I used chicken from the local supermarket, not the cheapest, but I was not satisfied. Then I chose corn-fed chicken from our awseome local butcher. And that was the right choice. I pre-cooked the chicken breast fillets as a whole and cut them later into smaller pieces (I think that is what the recipe asks for, isn’t it?). I bought MDH Chunk Chaat Masala which has black salt in it. And I found loose black salt from TRS, so next time I will make this curry with your Chaat Masala recipe. (Which brings me to a question: is there a reason that the Chaat Masala is not part of the blooming but is added quite late to the curry?) As always with restaurant style, it is so much fun and pleasure to cook this way: do all the preps, and then it is relaxed cooking while you see it all happen: browning the onions, blooming the spices, sizzling down the ginger/garlic-paste, bubbling and reducing the curry base. BG (=Before Glebekitchen) I read mostly that I had to put a lot of water in a curry quite in the beginning and cook it for ages, but it was always watery and tasteless. AG (=Anno Glebekitchen) I am observing the wonders happening in my pan, and I can see and smell already that it will be delicious, tasting seems to become unnecessary (though I am always tasting, of course!). I am using a cast-iron pan of high quality, a wonder-pan. Never ever a curry was going wrong in that pan. I made the recipe twice tonight, two batches: the second time I added more Chaat Masala and I used Tamarind paste next to the lemon juice. It liked that one as well, actually both batches were great. This time we had a little leftover, and grandma was happy: she freezes it and eats it after the summer holiday when we all have left. With good memories to great glebekitchen family-dinners! And I am sure that a big smile will be on her face! Thanks for another life-changing experience. “Food is emotion” Mike Süsser said on tv tonight, he is a German professional cook. Glebekitchen is too! Regards, Daniel and family.

    Reply
    • It is almost therapeutic once you know what you are doing and have all your prep done. 10 minutes and there’s magic on the plate. It is a lot of fun for me too!

      In this case the chaat masala is a finishing spice (not unlike garam masala) and the bite of spices works well in the dish. I don’t always add in in late but in this case it just works.

  4. 5 stars
    Wow, this dish is a real blockbuster. So tasty! I went fancy with precooking chicken and potatoes. Made potatoes the way you describe in your bombay aloo recipe, then cooked in oil with some whole spices. And for the chicken I marinated it and then cooked in the oven. I know you prefer to leave the lemon out of the marinade, but after trying both ways, I think I like how the chicken turns out more when the marinade does have lemon juice after all. So I used lemon juice, garlic-ginger paste, a little bit of medium curry powder and salt for the chicken. In the spice mix I added a little hot chili powder, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida. Didn’t have jwala chiles, so I cut up a jalapeno instead. At the end I added amchur powder because it goes well with everything. I love how complex the flavors turned out.

    I feel like even if some restaurant was serving this dish, it wouldn’t be as delicious and I’d end up disappointed. Oh, and I love having both protein and potatoes in one curry!

    Reply
  5. 5 stars
    Another Glebe Kitchen win. Made this last night (trying to use up the curry base, need room in freezer lol), and it was amazing! I added a bit of extra amchur powder to really kick up the sour for me. Thanks as always. I usually use the chaat masala and amchur in bhindi masala, so I have a lot on hand.

    Reply
  6. 5 stars
    Yet another winning curry recipe. As always, the secret is having the ready made curry gravy on hand. I make batches of 10 or so and freeze them, suggest making more when you get down to the last two or so. Fantastic site without any disappointments thus far.
    Keep up the great recipes.

    Reply
  7. 5 stars

    I’m making the aloo chaat chicken masala curry.i have already made the curry base.how should I adjust the recipe to suit 6 servings?thanks for a great site Phil.

    Reply
    • You can’t just scale the recipe easily. The technique relies on your ability to really get the pan hot when the base is added. Maybe try a big pan. Scale the recipe up 50 percent and make two batches. Keep the first batch warm while you make the second. Or make 3 batches as written. If you haven’t made a restaurant style curry before then making it for guests is pretty bold. Good luck.

    • There is a link to the curry base recipe in both the description of the dish (the text) and the recipe itself. Can you not see the linked text in a different colour?

  8. 5 stars
    A Romain original specialty! I love it! 🙂 I love how every time I learn about a curry from you I learn about a new spice! Something that I would never even pick up or know how to use. 🙂

    Reply

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