Madras chicken curry. Big, bold tastes. Lush sauce. Just like you get at your local Indian restaurant. On the table in 30 minutes. For real.
This is crazy tasty curry in a hurry. Almost sounds too good to be true. But I can make this in a half hour flat. And so can you.
That makes this weeknight friendly. And it serves 4. So invite some friends. Grab some naan at your local shop.
Cook up some rice. Maybe a green salad. And have a dinner party on a Tuesday night. It’s totally doable. And it would be fun. Everyone needs to have fun.
It’s all about the onions
Onions are the foundation of a lot of Indian dishes. Doesn’t really matter what you make. It always seems to start with “chop a whole mess of onions”.
The next step is almost always “cook those onions until they’re brown”. That’s the part that takes time. Like 20 minutes. Or more. 30 minutes even.
And it’s 30 minutes of closely attended time. No wandering off to check your email. No checking Instagram. You need to pay attention.
There’s an easier way. A way that lets you make restaurant quality chicken madras in 30 minutes. Total time.
Indian restaurants have this figured out. They make this stuff called curry base. Or curry gravy. They make huge pots of it. Takes a couple hours.
Hard to make a curry in 30 minutes if the gravy takes 2 hours. That’s where your microwave comes in.
You can make curry gravy in the microwave. In 10 minutes. Zap the onions. Toss them in your blender. And then just cook like they do in restaurants.
Don’t worry. Restaurant curries are easy. You’ll see.
You need madras curry powder to make chicken madras
That should not be a surprise. It’s in the name. Madras curry isn’t actually an Indian dish. It’s an English invention. And the definitive ingredient is Madras curry powder.
A bit of history. Mid 19th century London. Leicester Square to be specific. A shop starts selling a curry powder with South Indian influences.
It’s a hit. A big hit. So much so that you can choose from multiple Madras curry powder at just about any Indian grocer.
It’s the signature ingredient in Madras chicken curry. It needs to be there. Leaving it out isn’t quite as ridiculous as leaving eggs out of egg salad. But it’s close.
It’s curry powder. But with a South Indian twist. Not just the uusual suspects. Curry leaves. Star anise. And more chili.
Not a crazy amount of chili. But more. A bit of bite that you won’t get in your run of the mill curry powder.
What I want to know is when they’re going to change the name to Chennai chicken curry?
The sauce is the thing for madras chicken curry
That’s the funny thing about curries. The sauce is the thing. At least for me. The chicken is good. But the sauce is what makes the dish.
So I’m always looking for ways to make a better sauce. It’s about texture. Lush is a word I use a lot.
But it’s about flavour first. Maximum flavour. So I look for it everywhere.
Restaurants pre-cook their chicken. They do it for speed. And they do it for food safety.
Knowing ahead of time that the chicken is cooked takes a big variable out of the equation.
That peace of mind comes at a price. A big price in fact. All those wonderful, flavourful juices from the chicken are lost forever.
Not here though. Here the chicken is poached in the final dish.
All those juices wind up in the sauce. And then in your mouth. Where they belong.
Restaurant results from restaurant technique
This is pretty close to full blown restaurant techniques. A lot of it is identical. The real change is the way the gravy is made. And cooked.
The rest is pretty much identical. Fry your whole spices. Cook out the garlic ginger paste. Bloom your powdered spices in oil to extract maximum flavour.
Fry the onion gravy. Add the chicken. Adjust the seasoning. That’s the playbook. Get that down and you’re on the path to mastering Indian restaurant style cooking.
It’s not hard. Maybe a little different from what you’re used to. But not hard. Once you understand the process you can cook anything.
The rest of the recipe follows lessons learned from restaurant style. Bloom the spices in oil. That’s important no matter what style you go with.
If you like a little spicy. And you’re craving a lush restaurant sauce. Then this chicken madras is one for you!
Weeknight cooking – weekend results
This is an old recipe. From 2018 in fact. Originally published as part of a nearly Indian restaurant series. So it’s a retread. All new pictures and text. But a retread nonetheless.
I’m bringing it forward because I believe. Madras chicken curry for all. Any day of the week.
Because good food shouldn’t be a weekend thing. It should be an everyday thing.
Madras chicken curry on Tuesdays. I think that should be a thing. I’m hoping you feel the same.
30 minute chicken madras
Ingredients
The onion paste
- 2 cups onions – coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
chicken madras
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 3 pieces per thigh.
- 4 tsp madras curry powder – available at any Indian grocery
- 1 tsp paprika – for colour
- 2 tsp mild kashmiri chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp kasoor methi – dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 1/2 2 inch piece of cinnamon bark – also called cassia bark
- 1 tsp kosher salt – use a bit less if you are using table salt
- big pinch butcher’s grind black pepper (coarse grind) – about 1/8 tsp
- 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste plus enough water to dilute it to the consistency of tomato sauce
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/6 lemon – juiced
Instructions
The onion paste
- Place the onions in a microwave safe dish and cover loosely. Microwave at 70 percent until the onions are soft and translucent. This takes 10 minutes in my 1100 watt microwave. I can’t predict how long it will take in yours…
- Remove the onions from the microwave. Be careful. They will be hot. Let them cool slightly. Place the onions, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 cup of warm water in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
chicken madras
- In a small bowl, combine the madras curry powder, paprika, Kashmiri chili powder, kasoor methi, black pepper and salt. This is your spice mix.
- Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat until it shimmers.
- Toss in the cinnamon bark and let cook a few seconds. You will see little bubbles forming around the bark.
- Add the garlic ginger paste and cook until it stops spluttering.
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add the spice mix and stir continuously until it starts to smell really good – around 30-40 seconds. Watch it carefully. If you burn the spices at this point you have to start over.
- Add the diluted tomato paste and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the onion paste and turn the heat up to medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. The curry will darken a bit as it cooks. Don’t worry if it seems a bit dry. The chicken will release tasty, tasty juices as it cooks and you should be left with a nice amount of sauce.
- Turn the heat down to medium low. Add the chicken and stir. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Flip each piece of chicken and continue cooking 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 exactly how long this will take. I don’t know how big your chicken pieces are.
- If the curry is a bit thick add a bit of water or chicken stock and stir. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Let the chicken madras simmer another minute or so. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
- Garnish with a bit of cilantro or fried shallots if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
30 minute chicken madras
Ingredients
The onion paste
- 2 cups onions - coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
chicken madras
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 3 pieces per thigh.
- 4 tsp madras curry powder - available at any Indian grocery
- 1 tsp paprika - for colour
- 2 tsp mild kashmiri chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp kasoor methi - dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 1/2 2 inch piece of cinnamon bark - also called cassia bark
- 1 tsp kosher salt - use a bit less if you are using table salt
- big pinch butcher’s grind black pepper (coarse grind) - about 1/8 tsp
- 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste plus enough water to dilute it to the consistency of tomato sauce
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/6 lemon - juiced
Instructions
The onion paste
- Place the onions in a microwave safe dish and cover loosely. Microwave at 70 percent until the onions are soft and translucent. This takes 10 minutes in my 1100 watt microwave. I can’t predict how long it will take in yours…
- Remove the onions from the microwave. Be careful. They will be hot. Let them cool slightly. Place the onions, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 cup of warm water in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
chicken madras
- In a small bowl, combine the madras curry powder, paprika, Kashmiri chili powder, kasoor methi, black pepper and salt. This is your spice mix.
- Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat until it shimmers.
- Toss in the cinnamon bark and let cook a few seconds. You will see little bubbles forming around the bark.
- Add the garlic ginger paste and cook until it stops spluttering.
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add the spice mix and stir continuously until it starts to smell really good - around 30-40 seconds. Watch it carefully. If you burn the spices at this point you have to start over.
- Add the diluted tomato paste and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the onion paste and turn the heat up to medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. The curry will darken a bit as it cooks. Don’t worry if it seems a bit dry. The chicken will release tasty, tasty juices as it cooks and you should be left with a nice amount of sauce.
- Turn the heat down to medium low. Add the chicken and stir. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Flip each piece of chicken and continue cooking 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 exactly how long this will take. I don’t know how big your chicken pieces are.
- If the curry is a bit thick add a bit of water or chicken stock and stir. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Let the chicken madras simmer another minute or so. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
- Garnish with a bit of cilantro or fried shallots if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Chicken jalfrezi is on every single Indian restaurant menu for a reason. It’s delicious. Now you can make it at home. In 30 minutes. Start to finish. Any night of the week.
The flavours are restaurant worthy. Lush sauce. Bold flavours. Big chunks of lightly charred peppers and onions. And the bite of green chilies. My kind of dish.
This is an old recipe. From back in early 2018. The early days of glebekitchen. I’m dusting it off and bringing it forward.
Because I believe. I want you try it. Something a little different. Something a bit counter-intuitive. But something that works. Works well.
You could buy a jar of jalfrezi sauce. Toss in some chicken. And hope for the best. Pretty sure best isn’t the word that will come out of your mouth though.
Or you can make this chicken jalfrezi. It will surprise you I think.
Char your peppers a bit for great chicken jalfrezi
There’s a secret to making a good chicken jalfrezi. Took me forever to figure it out.
You have to scorch the green peppers when you fry them. Get them to almost blister. Like when you roast chiles.
That gives the dish its signature, smoky flavour. It’s critical. No char. Lower average. With char. Seriously delicious. The difference is not subtle.
It’s dead easy to do. Heat your oil. Pop some nice big green pepper pieces into the pan skin side down. And wait.
After about two minutes take a peek at one. If you see a bit of blistering. A little char. Then you know you’ve arrived.
You can start tossing them around the pan. Secure in the knowledge your jalfrezi is going to be great.
Onions make the sauce
That’s the thing about Indian cooking. It’s almost always the onions. Almost. I am a firm believer onions have no place in a top notch butter chicken . Seriously.
Traditional Indian cooking relies on browning the onions. Lots of onions. And that takes time.
Restaurants get around this by making a thing called curry base or base gravy. It’s basically a curry flavoured onion soup. Making it takes time. A couple hours.
30 minute curry in a hurry is restaurant style. Streamlined. It has a really fast version of the onion soup.
Uses all the restaurant techniques. Gets restaurant results. Not perfect maybe. But really, really close.
And it takes 30 minutes. From the time you open the fridge. To the time you put it on the table.
It uses the least useful kitchen appliance almost everyone owns. The microwave. A 10 minute zap at around 70 percent gets you cooked onions. There’s a point to the microwave after all.
Some water and a quick trip to the blender gets you base gravy. And restaurant technique does the rest.
Why this works
Restaurants don’t make big pots of curry and hope people show up. Can you imagine?
51 dishes on the menu. 51 big pots of expensive curry simmering on the world’s largest stove.
That is a formula for bankruptcy. There’s no way anyone can run a restaurant like that. Plus who would want a chicken jalfrezi that has been simmering for 5 hours…
What they actually do is cook to order. And they have figured out ways to make that work.
They use curry gravy. And it’s when the curry gravy hits hot fat that magic happens. Not really magic. The Maillard reaction. Food science.
You don’t have to understand it. It’s what makes a lot of things take better. It’s like MSG. Except it’s not controversial. Nobody hates on the Maillard reaction.
The curry gravy is onion soup. Remember that. So the first 20 minutes of sweating onions is already done. The onions are cooked.
That’s why this works. You go straight to browning mode. And that saves a ton of time.
30 minutes is not a challenge
I can make this dish in 30 minutes. I’m comfortable with the recipe. I cook a lot. I’m pretty fast in the kitchen.
If that sounds like you then I think you can do it too. 30 minutes is totally doable. But this isn’t a contest.
If it takes you 34 minutes that’s OK. 36 minutes? That’s good too. Don’t rush to hit a number. That just doesn’t make sense. It really doesn’t matter.
What matters is you create something you enjoy eating. And hopefully making. Cooking is supposed to be fun. Always remember that.
Chicken jalfrezi in 30 minutes – curry in a hurry
At the end of the day you have a choice to make. You can open up a jar of sauce. Add some chicken. Cook.
That’s going to take you 15 minutes. It’s almost certain to disappoint. And it isn’t going to be cheap.
Or you can spend an extra 15 minutes and make something. Something worth eating. A meal you are happy to see on your plate. A meal you can serve your friends.
I know what I choose. No contest…
30 minute chicken jalfrezi
Ingredients
The onion paste
- 2 cups onions – coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
Chicken jalfrezi
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 3 pieces per thigh.
- 1 green pepper – cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 1 medium onion – cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp tandoori masala
- 2 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 tbsp garlic ginger paste – see notes
- 1 1/2 tbsp minced cilantro stems
- 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste diluted to the consistency of tomato sauce
- 2 green chilies – halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 6 cherry tomatoes – halved
Instructions
The onion paste
- Place the 2 cups of chopped onions in a microwave safe dish and cover loosely. Microwave at 70 percent until the onions are soft and translucent. This takes 10 minutes in my 1100 watt microwave. I can’t predict how long it will take in yours…
- Remove the onions from the microwave. Be careful. They will be hot. Let them cool slightly. Place the onions, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 cup of warm water in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
Chicken jalfrezi
- In a small bowl, combine the cumin, coriander, turmeric, tandoori masala, Kashmiri chili powder, kasoor methi and salt. This is your spice mix.
- Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat until it shimmers.
- Add the green pepper, skin side down. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the remaining chopped onion and continue to cook until the onion starts to brown on the edges and the green pepper scorches a bit. You really want the colour on the green pepper skin. It’s key to the taste of a jalfrezi.
- Add the garlic ginger paste and cilantro stems and cook until the garlic ginger paste stops spluttering.
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add the spice mix and stir continuously until it starts to smell really good – around 30-40 seconds. Watch it carefully. If you burn the spices at this point you have to start over. It will stick a bit. That’s OK – you will deglaze with the tomato mixture.
- Add the diluted tomato paste and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium. Cook for 1 minute, scraping up any spice mix that stuck to the pan..
- Add the onion paste and turn the heat up to medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. It will darken a bit as it cooks. Don’t worry if it seems a bit dry. The chicken will release juices as it cooks and you should be left with a nice amount of sauce.
- Turn the heat down to medium low. Add the chicken and green chilies and stir. Cover and simmer until the chicken is done. It’s done when you measure the internal temperature and it says 170F, about 10-12 minutes. An instant read thermometer is a handy thing to have here…
- If the curry is a bit thick add a bit of water or chicken stock and stir. Add the cherry tomatoes. Let the chicken jalfrezi simmer another minute or so. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. It may be a bit under salted at this point.
- Garnish with a bit of cilantro if desired.
