Nepali Style Chicken Curry

When I started cooking dishes for my blog, I experimented with all kinds of food and baking and then one day out of sheer curiosity, I, googled for Nepali Food Recipes and was very disappointed when I did not find a single website that could provide me with nice and easy Nepali dishes. Then I realized that there are so many simple and tasty Nepali dishes that we cook at home but it is not documented anywhere, so I decided to post all the Nepali dishes that I know (from my Grandma’s cooking classes, experience, cookbooks, food groups !!!) so that I could create a repository of Nepali dishes. This simple and tasty Nepali style chicken curry is a favorite dish of my daughters. Enjoy 🙂 ~ Kamakshi

Prep Time : 15 mins                                                          Cook Time : 25 mins
Serves : 4-6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Kg Chicken, cut into desired size pieces
  • 1 Big Onion, finely diced
  • 1 tbsp Garlic, finely diced
  • 1 tbsp Ginger, finely grated
  • 2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 tsp Turmeric (Haldi) Powder
  • 1 tbsp Cumin (Zeera) Powder
  • 1 tbsp Coriander (Dhania) Powder
  • 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  • 4 Cloves (Laung)
  • 1″ Cinnamon (Dalchini) stick
  • 3 Green Cardamons (Elaichi)
  • 1 Bay Leaf (Tej Patta)
  • 1 tsp Cumin (Zeera) seeds
  • 4 tbsp Mustard Oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Chopped Coriander/Cilantro to garnish

METHOD

  1. Heat the mustard oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds, cloves,cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and fry for about 15-20 secs. Add the chopped onions and fry the onions till they become light pink and soft. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for another 5 mins.
  2. Add the chicken pieces and fry till the chicken become  light brown. Now, add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well with the chicken. Fry for 3-5 mins, then lower the heat and cover the pan and cook for 10 mins. No need to add water at this stage as the chicken and tomatoes will leave water.
  3. When the chicken is tender and the oil starts separating from the gravy. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water ( about 300 ml) and let the chicken simmer for 10-15 mins. You can adjust the consistency of the gravy as desired.
  4. Serve garnished with chopped green coriander/Cilantro.