An aromatic curry made with coconut, tamarind, peanuts and curry leaves, this Hyderabadi Style Chicken Curry is finger licking good! The inspiration for this recipe came while editing my hyderabadi-khatti-daal recipe a few nights ago.
I sat staring at a package of boneless chicken trying to come up with an inspirational recipe. Since I had been working on my daal recipe I thought I'd try some of my favorite Hyderabadi flavors. The recipe turned out so good I absolutely had to share it with all of you here!
The Recipe
It was only after I cooked my recipe that I bothered to look up and research more authentic variations of Hyderabadi Style Chicken Curry.
There is typically no use of peanuts in most recipes. But I personally like the taste and the texture they add to the gravy so I've left them in the recipe. However, if you have a peanut allergy, you can easily make this recipe without the nuts.
Despite what seems like a complex list of ingredients, this recipe is very easy, as is reiterated by mytastycurry.com on her version of the recipe. What I like is the depth of flavor that these ingredients add to what is typically a bland meat.
Prep All Your Ingredients
I always find that measuring and chopping all of your ingredients before I start cooking makes the whole process more seamless.
The first and most crucial step is to dry roast the coconut and peanuts. Heat the pan well and then stir constantly to get an even brown color. Any darker than the color below will lead to the curry tasting bitter. Once the peanuts are completely cool, grind them to a powder.
Next, brown the onions to a nice medium brown. The purpose here is to have a thick curry and the onions provide the base for that.
Next, add the ginger, garlic, chicken and dry spices. Roast the chicken till it turns white and opaque.
Add a little bit of water to help cook the chicken through. I use chicken tenderloins as they are juicy and cook really quickly. This also saves the time and trouble of cutting big pieces of breast.
Once the chicken is almost cooked through, add the ground peanuts, coconut, serrano chillies and curry leaves. This will help thicken the curry further. Add a little more water if necessary and cook for a few minutes till all the oil separates.
The last step, after turning off the stove, is to add the tamarind water to the mixture. Stir, cover and leave for 5 minutes before serving so the ingredients and flavors blend together.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot naan or a nice steaming bowl of basmati-rice.
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Hyderabadi Style Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb chicken tenderloins {SEE NOTES}
- ¼ cup peanuts
- ½ cup coconut
- 1 medium onion {1 Cup}
- 1 ½ tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 4 serrano chillies
- 20 curry leaves
- ½ cup tamarind water
- ¼ cup cilantro
Instructions
- Dry roast the peanuts and coconut till you can smell the roasted aroma, making sure not to burn them
- While waiting for the peanuts to cool, chop the onion and saute it till it's a medium brown
- Once cool, grind the peanuts and set them aside
- Once the onion is brown, add the ginger and garlic and saute the mixture for 30-45 seconds
- Add the Chicken and stir just to mix
- Add all the dry spices, stir and add ½ cup water and cover to cook the chicken
- After about 15 minutes, uncover and add the coconut, peanuts, serrano chillies and curry leaves.
- Add a little more water if necessary to maintain a gravy (¼ cup - ½ cup) and cover
- After 10 minutes of cooking, the oil should have separated and risen to the top
- At this point, turn the stove off and add the tamarind water to the curry
- Cover the pot for 5 minutes to let all of the flavors blend in
- After 5 minutes, uncover, garnish with cilantro and serve
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