ACHARI CHICKEN CURRY…A tangy Indian chicken curry
Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons
This recipe is easy, full of flavour…and has no store-bought mixes. The kids enjoy this one a lot. I avoid these mixes because they have preservatives and additives. See the note at the bottom of the recipe in case you cant find the seeds!
Ingredients: 
Chicken – 1 (700-800gms), cut into pieces
Onions – 3 / sliced fine
Tomatoes – 3 / chopped fine
Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp
Ginger Paste – 1 tbsp
Yogurt (curd) – 3 tbsp/thick
Kalonji – 1 tsp
Methi dana – 1/2 tsp
Whole Zeera – 1 tsp
Saunf – 1 tsp
Bhuna Zeera Powder – 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1/2 tsp
Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Green chilies – 2-3/ to taste
Lemon Juice – of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Fresh Coriander (Hara Dhania) to garnish
Method:
- Slit the green chilies and soak them in the lemon juice. Keep aside.
- Heat about 4-5 tbsps of oil in a nice big wok (kadhai), and fry the onions till brown.
- Add the kalonji + methi dana + Whole Zeera + Saunf. Mix well.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and haldi…roast well.
- Now put in the chicken pieces and roast on high flame till well browned.
- On high flame, add yogurt and fry well, but gently…don’t want to debone the chicken!
- Once it leaves oil, add the red chilli powder + roasted zeera powder + tomatoes..and roast well once again on high flame.
- Once this also leaves oil around the edges. add about 1/2 a cup of water + salt to taste…and cook covered, on simmer for about 30 mins. Stir once in a while.
- Once the chicken is tender, put in the chilies with the lemon juice and fresh coriander, and simmer for 5-7 minutes to enhance the flavours!
Serve hot with rotis, naan or rice. ENJOY!!
Note: This is actually flavoured with the ingredients of an Indian pickle. Buy them only if you intend to use them, otherwise, its worthwhile to try the basic recipe without the 4 strange sounding seeds. You can even puree the tomatoes for a smoother gravy.
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
8 Comments
Saju
it is nearly lunch time here and my mouth is watering. Great recipe, I will be trying it soon
Padmaja
My favourite of all meats is definitely chicken and your dish looks so different and amazing!!
Happy cook
Wow excelent looking dish. I just had my lucnh and i am getting hungry again after seeing your post
remya
lovely chicken dish….looks yumm
Prajusha
wow..achari chicken looks mouthwatering:)
will surely try it.thnaks for sharing it.
meeso
Your plate of spices looks as beautiful as one of your cakes 🙂 This sounds very good!!!
Anonymous
Came to your blog in search of a cake recipe for my dau’s bd, great blog you have here. Enjoyed it so much specially since I found a great Achaari Murgh recipe, something which I have been looking for a long time. Made it this weekend, it was yummy (only the excess bunaoing disintegrated my chicken, next time a little less and tomato puree instead!)
BTW do you use free-hand or a template for the icing on the chocolate cake?
Thanks for sharing. Angela
Aparna S Mallya
Hi Deeba,
I tried this recipe with a few variations. Will be blogging abt it soon.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!