Bangladeshi Chicken Curry

Bangladeshi Chicken Curry

Bone-in chicken and potatoes in a light curried gravy, the quintessential chicken curry of Bangladesh.

5 from 1 vote

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Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine bangladeshi

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 1 chicken, regular cut about 3 lbs
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 4-5 cardamom pods
• 2 cinnamon sticks, small
• 12-15 whole black peppers
• 2 dry red chilies
• 1 cup sliced onions
• 1/3 cup onion paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp coriander
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 3 potatoes medium sized
• 2 cups boiling water
• 3 green chilies
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin powder optional

Instructions

 

• Wash and drain chicken well.
• In a wide pot, heat oil and add whole spices: bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, whole black peppers, and dry red chilies. After about 30 seconds, add the sliced onions and sauté until onions are golden.
  
• Add onion paste, ginger paste, and garlic paste, followed by all the powder spices: salt, turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, and cumin. Add a splash of water to prevent burning. Sauté for about 5 minutes covered, until the oil starts to separate from the masala.
  
• Add the chicken and mix very well. On medium/high heat, cook uncovered for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The chicken pieces should no longer be translucent and start to turn opaque.
  
• Now lower the heat, cover, and let the chicken cook. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking at the bottom.
• Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut them into medium/large pieces. See image for size reference. Also, have 2 cups of water boiling on the side.
  
• After the chicken has been cooking for about 20 minutes, you'll notice that it is releasing liquid. Add the potatoes at this point.
  
• Continue cooking covered for about another 15 minutes. At this point you'll notice that most of the liquid that was previously released has been absorbed back. The gravy should be fairly dry.
  
• Now add the 2 cups of boiling water, along with the green chilies (slit, if desired). Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are done. As a sign of doneness, look for rounded edges of the potatoes (should no longer be sharp). You can also test one piece to make sure it's not hard inside. The potatoes should be cooked through, but they will fall apart if they're overly soft.
  
• Adjust salt. If you want a thinner gravy, add more water. Finish with a sprinkle of freshly ground cumin powder (optional). Serve with rice and enjoy!
  

Keyword chicken curry

About Bangladeshi Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry is comfort food for so many people around the world. It’s humble, nostalgic, utilitarian, and soul satisfying. There are countless varieties of chicken curry, depending on what region you’re from. This dish is specific to Bangladesh. This is the chicken curry I grew up eating, and the dish that has a permanent place in the center of my heart. It’s what first pops into mind when I think of home-cooked food. It’s what I crave after being away from home for more than a few days. And that’s because chicken curry IS home.

In a typical Bangladeshi household, especially one with kids, chicken curry is a dish that is almost always available. Other protein dishes such as beef, fish, or shrimp are also in the rotation, but chicken is a constant and the most commonly cooked one. Perhaps this is why so many of us associate it with childhood and home life. Ask any Bengali person what their ultimate comfort food is, and they’ll say it’s their mother’s regular chicken curry.

The Steps, in a Nutshell

Although Bangladeshi Chicken Curry is considered simple food, it’s actually not an intuitive dish to make. It’s not like grilling or baking chicken. Nope, making a good curry is ART. There are particular methods and techniques involved, but once you understand the curry process, you’ll understand why the flavor profile of curry has so much depth. The method has been very thoughtfully created. Once you master this basic chicken curry, you’ll be able to master so many other types of South Asian dishes.

We start off by tempering the whole spices, which releases their aroma and allows them to bloom to their full potential. Then we fry some sliced onions. Any dish that has golden fried onions in it is guaranteed to be delicious. Then we add the pastes that will create the base of the curry–onion, ginger, garlic. The sliced onions we first fried was for flavor, but the onion paste we are adding now is for body. I know some people use cut onions in this stage also, but I find that the consistency is so much better when you blend it first. Altogether you’ll need about 2 small onions or 1.5 medium onions for this recipe.

Next up, we add all the powder spices that will flavor this dish. This dish uses just the 4 front line spices of Bangladeshi cooking: turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, and cumin. Now that all the ingredients of the curry base has been added, it’s time for the “bhuna” stage. The masala we created needs to be sauteed well. This ensures that your final result will be delicious. When you see that the oil starts to float to the top, it’s a sign that the masala has been “bhuna’d” properly.

After adding the chicken, it’s important that it’s sauteed uncovered on fairly high heat for at least 10 minutes. The reason is this: we don’t want water to start releasing from the chicken right away. The chicken needs to absorb all that good masala first! What to look for at this stage: you want to see the pieces turn opaque and no longer translucent.

Then it’s time to cover and let your chicken cook or else it’ll take forever to cook through. Lower the heat so it doesn’t burn and stir occasionally. You’ll notice that it will start releasing lots of water. Add potatoes at this point (you can make chicken curry without potatoes too). Now it’s important that the water gets absorbed back into the chicken. If you don’t allow this, expect bland chicken because so much of your flavor is now in the gravy. When the chicken absorbs most of the gravy, it ensures flavorful chicken.

But we do want gravy though, so this is why we add extra (boiling) water. At this point, the chicken should be cooked through for the most part, so we just need to watch the potatoes and turn off the stove when they’re done. A sign to watch for: look at the cut edges of the potatoes. If they’re still sharp, the potatoes are not done. If they’re dull and rounded, they’re probably done. Test one piece to make sure. After years of cooking chicken curry, I still do a potato test–just to make sure! You can add extra water if you want the gravy to be runnier. Remember that the curry will end up being drier over time, so always finish while there’s still a little more liquid than you’d like.

My favorite finishing touch is the freshly ground cumin powder on top. It adds so much amazing flavor! To make this, simply dry toast some cumin seeds for 30 to 45 secs, then grind into a fine powder. Sprinkle this over your entire curry and I promise you–you’ll be hooked.

Serve with rice and a wedge of lemon/lime and enjoy!

And Finally…

If you recreate this dish please don’t forget to leave a star rating and comment below. And share it with me on Instagram!

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