Homestyle Chicken Salan (Chicken Curry)
Your favorite deeply comforting authentic well balanced chicken curry made easier (and faster), a must know for every Pakistani cook!
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 1.5-2 lb bone in chicken (or 1.5 lb boneless)
- ⅓ cup oil
- 1 small piece cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 5-6 whole black peppers
- 2-3 laung (cloves)
- 3 diced onions approx 350g
- 2 diced tomatoes between 210-220g
- 1.5 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp kashmiri laal mirch (optional, but gives great colour and a mild spice)
- 1 ½ tsp coriander powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
Finishing touches
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- chopped cilantro
- 2-3 sliced green chilies
Instructions
- Heat your oil in a large pot on medium high heat
- When it shimmers then add the whole spices i.e cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, and whole black peppers.
- After the cumin seeds start to sizzle and smell delicious then add the onions
- When the edges of the onion turn golden then add the garlic paste and ginger paste and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Now stir in your tomatoes and spices. Cover the pot and turn the heat down a little to medium heat for 2-3 minutes - this speeds up the process of cooking the masala.
- Turn the heat back up, remove the lid and sauté the spice mix until the oil rises above the top.
- Use an immersion blender to make the salan into a mostly smooth paste, you will need to tilt the pot to make this happen.
- Add your chicken pieces to your pot stirring periodically until all of the chicken turns white/opaque
- Now add ½ cup of water to your pot if the masala seems very bring to a boil and simmer on low until the chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes.
- Adjust the consistency of the salan to your liking, add the garam masala powder and cumin powder, then adjust seasoning.
- Garnish with cilantro and green chilies and serve.
