Indian Chicken Curry for Dinner

Those are one of the best days of my life when I plan to cook Chicken curry and it's raining outside. Just reminds me of old days back in India. Speaking of rain, it's been drizzling outside for almost a day now in Columbus, Ohio. I love rain. Being grown up in Monsoon climate I never get bored no matter how much water has accumulated near my apartment. Enough rambling and let me get back to Chicken curry recipe.

How to make Chicken Curry - Indian style

Ingredients

1. 300-400 grams Chicken (I usually prefer chicken breast or thighs. I use drumsticks only while making preparations for Chicken biryani)
2. Ginger gralic paste
3. Cumin seeds
4. Bay leaves
5. Chili powder
6. Onion
7. Tomato
8. Oil
9. Turmeric
10. Curd
11. Chili
12. Salt
13. Coriander
14. Garam Masala
15. Lime juice

Procedure

1. Make sure to wash the whole chicken before cutting it into pieces
2. Cut the chicken into small pieces approximately the size of ice cubes. (Don't make them too large as it will take longer cooking time)
3. Thoroughly marinate these pieces with ginger garlic paste.
4. Sprinkle chili powder and garam masala over it as per taste
5. Grind Coriander along with chili pieces and desirable quantity of water to make a thick paste enough for given quantity of chicken
6. Add 2 teaspoons of curd to chicken marination prepared so far. (Curd will help to make deep marination into chicken pieces but this is not mandatory)
7. Keep this marinated mixture into fridge for at least 12 hours to make sure all spices get soaked into chicken pieces. (However, do not put it for more than 24 hours for obvious hygienic reasons)
8. Before you start cooking make sure to put marinated mixture outside fridge for at least half and hour.
9. Take a stainless steel cooking bowl at least of size double of that of chicken and add two teaspoons of oil to it along with couple of bay leaves (Wait until bowl is completely heated and put gas on the medium flame)
10. Take a big onion and dice it into smaller pieces and fry them in oil for 7-8 minutes until they turn red brown
11. Add minced tomatoes to it and stir the mixture for another 7-8 minutes
12. Now add marinated chicken to this gravy and keep stirring until making sure each and every piece gets fried thoroughly
13. Now add enough water to make gravy out of this cooked mixture.
14. When chicken starts boiling, add pinch of turmeric powder. Also add chili powder and garam masala as per taste and preference for spice level (Make sure to test gravy color as you add these spices)
15. For additional and better taste, I use Parampara Chicken Curry masala. (For 300-400g of chicken I usually add half the packet content. This should be enough in my opinion.)
16. After this is done and gravy starts boiling, put gas on the high flame, put the lid on the top and keep it boiling for another 10-15 minutes. (Make sure to keep checking it after every 5 minutes and stirring as needed. Also, this is the best moment to add additional water if needed)
17. Once this is done, turn off the gas and keep the bowl as it is for another 10-12 minutes.
18. Sprinkle chicken gravy with lime juice for authentic gravy taste and garnish it with coriander leaves for classic aroma.
19. If you feel that gravy has gotten too spicy for taste, add curd or milk over it as needed. (I usually use curry color as an indicator of spice level)

That's it and your chicken curry is ready. Serve it with Tortillas, chapatis or rice. You can also include ring sliced onions as a side to this gravy.

Not that I am saying this is an ideal Chicken curry recipe but I usually follow this path and I love it.
What do you think? Do try it and let me know your thoughts on it.

I am not a big fan of photographing food, but since it's relevant to this post I captured today's recipe into Nexus-5. Here's snap :