Meera Sodha’s Chicken Curry

I keep seeing a fundamental rule of Indian spice addition/cooking often not followed. For enhanced taste as well as possibly avoiding a stomach upset when spices are not cooked properly please avoid adding such spices to a liquid without having first cooked them even briefly in hot fat/oil. In this case, just add the spices in step3 in step1. I promise it wont take away from the dish!

I thought that the first time I made this too. Then I decided to marinate the chicken in half a cup of Greek yogurt, the juice of one lemon, and all of the spices in the recipe -- ground cumin, turmeric, garam masala, cayenne, and a teaspoon of ground coriander as well. I let it sit for about 30 minutes while I prep the rest of the dish, then add the bowl of marinated chicken, yogurt, and spices in Step 4. The dish turns out far more flavorful, it's now a staple in my house.

As an Indian, I must say that this is perfect everyday chicken recipe. You may want to add more of each spice if you want and a bit more onions (red onions work best for Indian cooking). This is a thicker sauce not a thin curry so...

This is partially true. Some of the spices need to be fried to extract their flavor, such as cumin, coriander, kala jeera. But there are spices that you add without frying, such as turmeric, garam masala, cayenne pepper. point being it depends on the spice and is not an universal truth.

When printed, the recipe for "Meera Sodha's Chicken Curry" contains the introductory paragraph--which means that the recipe takes up two pages. When I cook, I do not want to be flipping pages. Why do you suddenly include this (interesting but unnecessary) material? Simply the recipe, please. I would like the option of printing readers' notes, however. Any chance of this being possible?

I copy the reader notes I want to reference and paste into "add note" then mark it private. Then these notes do print with your recipe.

I agree with Sue: brown chicken thighs before adding them to the sauce. This will render out the chicken fat, most of which can be discarded for a lower calorie dish. Once well browned, the chicken pieces can be moved to a dish till the sauce is ready. You could then skip the neutral oil and use instead 1 T of the rendered fat for more flavor. Then add the ghee or butter and go from there. Why does a flavorful, healthy, and easy to prepare dish need to be authentic anyway?

Sautéing the chicken before hand is absolutely not necessary. It doesn't hurt, but slowly simmering the chicken until it's fully cooked will fully absorb all the flavor of the spices just fine. There is more than one way of cooking the chicken curry and both are just fine methods.

This is a fabulous recipe. Years ago I cooked Indian food from a couple of Indian cookbooks but haven't found anything I liked enough to make in the last 10 years. This was relatively easy as advertised and had a mouthful of flavor. It was so good, both the curry and the naan (actually a roti recipe) were so good that I bought her book and have since tried several other recipes.

Coconut milk works great too.

I used a whole cut up chicken, which I dredged in ginger powder, cumin, cinnamon, garam masala, and pink salt then baked for 1hr at 375F. While it was baking, I made the sauce (doubled the spices and tomatoes, was liberal with other ingredients), then added the chicken back in. Came out great and I feel like the real "secret ingredient" was the pounded ginger-garlic-jalapeño mix. Kids said it was like going to the Indian restaurant - my first real success in this department!

Have made this several times and it is always a hit. I double the yogurt and tomatoes. Otherwise you end up with what is essentially a paste that is out of balance with the amount of chicken. I also brine the chicken first in 1/4 cup brown sugar and three T Kosher salt. You may also prefer a bit more spice, as this curry leans toward bright and gingery. Maybe add a 1/2 t red pepper flakes or a 1/2 t ground cayenne pepper. Overall a fun dish that can be easily manipulated to suit your preference.

Just made this last night with Meera's naan recipe as well. Only a couple changes:
1. Substituted about 1 tsp cinnamon powder for the cinnamon sticks.
2. Added about a cup of chicken stock before adding the chicken thighs because, as many have noted, there was not enough sauce.
3. Used ginger paste since my local grocery was out of fresh ginger.
The dish came out wonderfully and had a lot of great flavors. Might sub out the jalapeno for birds eye chiles next time (great idea!).

I would never cook chicken without sauteeing it first in either veg oil or ghee. Use this recipe if you wish but do not skip the step of first sauteeing the chicken pieces in the butter for two minutes sprinkled with a little salt, remove them. Follow her recipe and add the chicken back in when she says to. It will make a huge difference, chicken, or any meat not sauteed in some time of grease tastes awful.

Great recipe. The ginger/cumin seed/cinnamon undertone is wonderful. Used red Fresno chiles; some heat but not overpowering. Added cayenne and some red pepper flakes for last few minutes of cooking to amp up the heat. Also tossed in chopped parsley and scallion to dress up the dish before serving. Next time, consider squeezing in some lemon or lime juice at the end to add brightness....