This flavorful ginger chicken curry is dominated by wonderful flavors of ginger and accompanied best with plain white rice!
If you want a pleasant change from the regular chicken curry, then I would like to introduce you to this immensely flavorful ginger chicken curry. Ginger has a highly wafting flavor which captures our senses and make us feel good, hence I won’t be too wrong if I name this ginger chicken curry as ‘feel-good’ chicken curry! Trust me, this can surely boost your mood while you are feeling low and want to treat yourself with good food. Classic chicken curry too has its share of ginger but it is not majorly dominated by the ginger flavor. Ginger lends the predominant flavor in this ginger chicken curry which is why it is one of my favorite curries. Wondering why? Because I simply love the flavor of ginger – be it in my ginger tea or any of my Indian curries.
You will see a high amount of ginger in my curries which I tone down a bit while sharing the recipe here because I understand that not everyone would be as fond of ginger as I am. Ginger is not only another aromatic which just makes your food taste better, but it has immense amount of health benefit too! Typical Indian curries have lots of spices in it which might be little complicated for our digestion system; hence the presence of ginger in almost all our curries helps aiding the digestion. Additionally, ginger is a very potent anti-inflammatory ingredient. So, this ginger chicken curry is always a win-win recipe for all!
If the health benefit of ginger hasn’t inspired you enough to try your hands on this ginger chicken curry, then I would insist you to try this just for its taste. I have had ginger chicken curry in restaurants but that’s nothing compared to the homemade version. I request you to only use freshly grated ginger in this chicken curry and not the ready-made store-bought ginger paste. I too am guilty of using the store-bought ginger paste occasionally when I am too pressed for time; but never in this recipe of ginger chicken curry. Take your time to peel and grate the ginger root while making this curry and you will thank me for this later.
This ginger chicken curry is best enjoyed with plain white rice. If you serve this with chicken biryani or other flavored rice, you won’t be able to enjoy the full flavor of ginger. I would recommend paring kadhai chicken with chicken biryani and reserve this chicken curry for plain rice. Enjoy this homestyle curry on a lazy Sunday brunch or serve it in your next potluck – in both scenarios you will win over everyone!
- Chicken – 1 kg, skinless & bone-in, cut into medium curry-sized pieces
- Ginger paste – 2 tbsp
- Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Mustard oil – ¼ cup
- Cloves – 4 to 6
- Cinnamon stick – 1-inch piece
- Bay leaf – 1
- Whole black pepper corn – 5 to 6
- Onion – 2, large, finely chopped
- Ginger – 4-inch piece, half peeled & grated and half peeled & finely chopped
- Garlic – 6 to 8 cloves, minced
- Green chillies – 2, slit lengthwise
- Yogurt/curd – 1 cup, lightly beaten
- Maida/all-purpose flour – 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 tsp
- Garam masala – 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Juice of half a lemon
- Ginger juliennes to garnish
- Freshly chopped coriander leaves to garnish
- Take the chicken pieces in a large bowl and add ginger paste, garlic paste, lemon juice and salt. Cover and leave the chicken to marinate for an hour at room temperature.
- Heat a grill pan and brush the grids with oil. Once the pan is super-hot, place the chicken and grill them on high until slightly brown. Flip them over and leave it for couple of minutes to get nice grill marks on other side too.
- Take the chicken pieces out in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadhai/wok. Once the oil is hot, temper it with cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and whole black peppercorn. Sauté them for few seconds until fragrant.
- Next add the chopped onions and fry them until they turn translucent. Add grated ginger and minced garlic and sauté until the onion turns golden brown.
- Now add the grilled chicken pieces and also tip in the slit green chillies. Fry the chicken on high heat for 5 minutes stirring frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- While chicken is sautéing, add maida to the beaten yogurt and mix well. Once chicken is nicely sautéed, add the yogurt-maida mix to the kadhai. Continue cooking the chicken on medium for 5 minutes or until oil starts to separate from chicken.
- Next add the powdered spices – turmeric, Kashmiri red chilli and garam masala. Season it with salt to taste and add about half a cup of warm water.
- Sauté the spices on high until the spices are nicely toasted and oil starts to separate again. Then add about a cup of warm water and bring it to boil.
- Add the chopped ginger to the boiling curry. Cover the kadhai and cook the chicken on low until chicken is completely cooked through, which would take about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Once chicken is completely cooked, adjust the consistency of the gravy as per your liking. Add water if it is too dry or boil off any excess if too watery. Check and adjust the seasoning.
- Switch off the flame and drizzle the juice of half a lemon. Give a final mix.
- Garnish with ginger juliennes and freshly chopped coriander leaves. Serve the warm ginger chicken curry with plain white rice. Enjoy!
nice recipe