Dhaba chicken curry is a very popular and loved chicken curry ordered in dhaba (very popular and rustic roadside restaurants of India). Chicken pieces cooked in a creamy tomato gravy made with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, yogurt and aromatic spices.
The gravy of this dhaba chicken curry is silky smooth in texture and spicy with a tangy twist. Chicken is cooked very low and slow, which makes it so tender and juicy.
I have so many childhood memories having this dhaba chicken curry with naan or tandoori roti with masala papad and dal fry. It is a finger licking chicken curry recipe and pretty easy to make.
Dhaba Chicken Curry Recipe
Course: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes1
hour20
minutesThis dhaba chicken curry is a chicken cooked in a smooth and spicy tomato based gravy with a tangy twist.
Ingredients
- To Roast and Grind Masala :-
2-3 Tbsp of oil
1 stick of cinnamon
15 cloves
15 black peppercorns
4 cardamoms
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of cumin seeds
5 large red onions, sliced
3 Tbsp of ginger chopped(about 3-inches)
2 whole garlic heads, peeled
5-6 Green chilies or to taste, chopped
2 tsp of coriander powder
2 tsp of red chili powder or to taste
3/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 kg of red tomatoes, cubed
- Other Ingredients :-
1/3 cup of yogurt
2 kgs of skinless and bone-in chicken cut into pieces and cleaned
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Directions
- In a big dutch pan or Kadai, heat oil, then cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves and saute for a minute over low-medium heat. When the cloves starts to swell and pop up, add cumin seeds.
- When cumin starts to sizzle, add ginger, onions, chili, salt and mix well. Let it cook for 5 minutes.
- Then add garlic and let the mixture cook until the onions are light brown in color.
- Then add coriander, turmeric, red chili powder and saute for half a minute.
- Add the tomatoes and mix well. Let the mixture cooks until the gravy starts to release oil ( it will take around 15-20 minutes over medium heat).
- Now switch off the heat and let the onion mixture cools down a bit, then put the mixture in a food processor and blend it until smooth.
- Put the ground gravy back into the same pan and mix in the yogurt well and turn on the heat and let it comes to a slow boil.
- Now put the chicken pieces with salt into the gravy and mix well.
- Put on the lid and cook on very low heat for about 50-60 minutes until the chicken is fully done.
- Stir in the cilantro and dhaba chicken curry is done.
Notes
- Serve Dhaba chicken curry with tandoori roti or naan and rice.
- The gravy is spicy, so if you do not want it hot lower down on the chili powder and green chilies.
