30 minute chicken masala curry

Chicken masala in a bowl from the front.

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4.75 from 24 votes

30 minute chicken masala curry

Chicken masala brings homestyle flavours to Indian restaurant curries

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: chicken masala

Servings:

Calories: 444kcal

Author: romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

The onion paste

2 cups onions - coarsely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water

chicken masala

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 3 pieces per thigh.
1 tsp indian restaurant mix powder - see notes. Or just use a commercial curry powder. That works too.
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mild kashmiri chili powder
1 tsp kasoor methi - dried fenugreek leaves
1 tsp kosher salt - use a bit less if you are using table salt
2 inch piece of cinnamon bark - also called cassia bark
4 green cardamom pods
2 tbsp garlic ginger paste - see notes
2-3 green chilies cut into large pieces
2 tbsp tomato paste plus enough water to dilute it to the consistency of tomato sauce
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup tomatoes - diced
2-3 tbsp cilantro - coarsely chopped

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

The onion paste

Chop your onions coarsely. And by coarsely I mean 1/2 inch pieces. No point going any finer. Just wasting time...
Place the onions in a microwave safe dish and cover with cling wrap. Punch a hole in the top. Microwave at 70 percent until the onions are soft and translucent. This takes about 10 minutes in an 1100 watt microwave oven.
Remove the onions from the microwave. Be careful. They will be hot. Like burn you with the steam hot. Let them cool slightly.

Do your prep

Do your prep while the onions are in the microwave.
In a small bowl, combine the indian restaurant mix powder or curry powder, turmeric, kashmiri chili powder, cumin, kasoor methi and salt. This is your spice mix.
Get your blender out. Get the pan on the stove. Measure out your ingredients. Cut up the chilies. Dice the tomatoes. Dilute the tomato paste.
Cut the chicken into big bite size pieces. I like 3-4 pieces per thigh. Thighs are just better. More fat. More flavour. And more forgiving.
The microwave should ding any second now. Place the onions, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 cup of warm water in a blender and puree until smooth. Leave the paste in the blender. There is no point making more dishes here...

Make the chicken masala

Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat until it shimmers.
Toss in the cinnamon bark and green cardamom. Let cook about 20-30 seconds. You will see little bubbles forming around the bark.
Add the garlic ginger paste and green chilies. Stand back. Cook until the garlic ginger paste stops spluttering.
Turn the heat to medium low. Add the spice mix. That's the mix you made above and put in the small bowl. Stir continuously until it starts to smell really good. It This takes around 30-40 seconds. Watch it carefully. If you burn the spices at this point you have to start over. This is called blooming the spices. It is one of the big secrets to Indian cooking. It's also why you you need to add all the oil specified in this recipe. Things will go poorly for you if you try shave calories.
Add the diluted tomato paste and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium. Cook for 1 minute.
Add half the onion paste and turn the heat up to medium high. Just dump it out of the blender. Stir to combine. Cook for about a minute.
Add the rest of the onion paste and stir again. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. Don't worry if it looks dry. The chicken will release juices as it cooks. Instant delicious.
Turn the heat down to medium low. Add the chicken and stir. Cover and simmer until the chicken is done. It's done when you measure the internal temperature and it says 170F, about 10-15 minutes. I can't tell you how long this takes. I don't know how big your chicken pieces are. I also don't know how hard things are simmering in your pan. An instant read thermometer is a handy thing to have here. It's actually a great thing to have period. Great chefs use them. You should use them too.
If the curry is a bit thick add a bit of water or chicken stock and stir. You are after a saucy consistency like you get in a restaurant.
Add the diced tomatoes and cilantro. Let the chicken masala simmer another minute or so. Basically you are just warming the tomatoes through. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
Garnish with a bit more cilantro if desired. This dish goes great with a simple tarka dal, chapattis and rice.

Notes

The recipe for Indian restaurant spice mix can be found here. If you don't have the time to make it you can use a commercial curry powder. Please don't use garam masala. That is a very specific spice blend full of warming spices. It is not a general purpose blend no matter what you've been told.

You can buy garlic ginger paste but it's easy to make and homemade is way better. Here's an easy recipe for garlic ginger paste. If you cook Indian fairly often it's so worth it to whip up a batch. It will keep for a few weeks in the fridge. Do that ahead of time or there is zero chance you will hit 30 minutes though...

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