Chicken Madras

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5 from 1 vote

This chicken madras curry is an easy and delicious recipe for the spicy British Indian favourite. Chicken, tomatoes, chillies and spices combine into a great fakeaway dish. Only one pan and no made in advance base sauce; even better if made ahead.

Servings:

Author: Helen Best-Shaw

Prep Time5

Cook Time40

Total Time45

Ingredients

1 onion
1 red chilli
2 tsp ginger paste - 2
2 tsp garlic paste - 2
2 tbsp ghee or oil
500 g chicken thighs - 1
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp hot chilli powder - 3
4 cardamon pods
400 g can chopped tomatoes - 4
1 tbsp tomato puree / paste

To Serve

coriander / cilantro
1 tbsp butter

Instructions

Prepare the onion and chilli
Onion – peel, top, tail and cut into four quarters
Chilli – chop in half
1 onion, 1 red chilli
Add onion, chilli, and ginger and garlic paste to a small food processor or mini chopper.
Pulse / whizz to chop finely or to a paste as your machine allows.
2 tsp ginger paste, 2 tsp garlic paste
Use a good heavy (but not necessarily expensive) frying pan / skillet, which is non stick and has a well fitting lid. Anything between 23-28cm (9-11 inch) is perfect.
Melt the ghee over a medium heat, add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli paste and fry, for a few minutes, stirring all the time until it starts to turn golden and is fragrant.
2 tbsp ghee or oil
Add the remaining spices and fry for another few minutes, until everything is a deep golden and is fragrant
1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp garam masala, ½ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp hot chilli powder, 4 cardamon pods
Whilst the spices are cooking prepare the chicken thighs.
If needed remove the skin and bone and then cut the meat into bite sized pieces while the spices are cooking. I find a sharp pair of kitchen scissors is the easiest way to do this.
500 g chicken thighs
Stir in the chicken pieces and fry for another few minutes until they chicken is no longer pink on the outside, and is coated in the spices.
Add the canned tomatoes and tomato puree and stir through.
Cover with the lid and allow to simmer on the lowest heat for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
400 g can chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato puree / paste
Check the curry, remove any cardamon pods which have floated to the top, taste and add a little salt to taste.
If needed cook for another 10 minutes with the lid ajar to reduce and thicken the sauce.
At the end of cooking I like to stir through a knob of butter to make the sauce richer, and to help meld the spices, it makes a big difference to the final dish elevating it to restaurant quality.
1 tbsp butter
Serve garnished with chopped coriander the rest of the chilli sliced.
coriander / cilantro

Notes

Ingredients

Chicken Thighs are always my first choice for chicken pieces. They have more flavour and more fat, so they will not dry out when cooking. They are also cheaper than chicken breast.
Prepared garlic and ginger paste - This is central to easy Indian cooking at home, and a massive time saver. Depending where you buy you can buy a jar of mixed ginger and garlic, or individual jars of just the one ingredient. Leftovers can be portioned into an ice cube tray and frozen.
If you do not have them then use 3 cloves garlic and a 1 inch piece of ginger root. the rest of the ginger root can be stored in a tub in the freezer.
Chilli Powder - amount to taste, and according to how hot it is.
Canned tomatoes - you can also use passata. I buy mid-range, mid-priced tinned tomatoes. You don’t need the most expensive, but avoid the cheapest budget range. Mid priced supermarket own brand is perfect here.

This chicken madras recipe is ideal for making ahead of time and may actually benefit from it, as the flavours have longer to infuse the meat.

Storage

Fridge – Allow to cool, and as soon as it is cold pack into an airtight container. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for 3 months.

Freezer – Cool and pack into an airtight container. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To use, defrost and reheat in a pan on the stove top, or heat in the microwave, making sure it is properly hot before serving.

Hints and tips

Take time to fry the spices and chicken properly, so that they are fragrant and the chicken is thoroughly cooked on the outside and well covered in the spice mixture.

Curries lend themselves very well to batch cooking and it is easy to double this recipe up, BUT if you do so I'd keep some of the liquid from the canned tomatoes back.

I don’t recommend halving this recipe – the spice quantities become fiddly and a smaller batch is more likely to dry out. It freezes and reheats so well it is the perfect dish to cook once and eat twice.

• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.