Maunika Gowardhan

Kadhai Chicken Chargha

Spicy Chicken curry with turmeric, ginger & chillies

Serves
4
From
Indian Kitchen
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Kadhai Chicken Chargha

The recipe

Ingredients

  • 700gms chicken on the bone, skinless cut into medium pieces
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp greek yoghurt
  • 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • Salt to taste

For frying the chicken

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2-3 dried kashmiri red chillies
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2” piece coarsely grated ginger
  • 1 red chilli thinly sliced
  • Coriander for garnish

For the mint raita

  • 200gms natural yoghurt
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 40gms mint leaves
  • 10gms coriander leaves
  • 1 garlic clove
  • salt to taste

Method

  1. Add a tablespoon of the yoghurt with the garlic in a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Tip the past in a bowl adding the rest of the ingredients. Marinate the chicken in the spiced yoghurt marinade for 2-3 hours or preferably overnight.

  2. In a wok or a deep frying pan heat the vegetable oil. Add the cumin seeds and dried chillies. Let them sizzle and flavour the oil for 10 seconds. Tip in the marinated chicken pieces and fry on a medium heat for 5-7 minutes stirring continuously.

  3. Turn the heat low and cook for a further 20 minutes with a lid on to help create steam in the wok. Once the chicken is cooked all the way through & tender add the coarse ginger, sliced chillies and coriander. Mix well and serve warm with mint raita.

    Kadhai Chicken Chargha (2)

  4. For the mint raita;

    Add the cumin seeds & black pepper to a pestle & mortar & grind to a fine powder. Now add 2 tbsp of the yoghurt along with all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Tip in a serving bowl and mix in the rest of the yoghurt. Refrigerate & serve chilled with piping hot chicken.

From the book

Indian Kitchen

Secrets of Indian home cooking

Growing up in Mumbai, Maunika learned the secrets of home cooking, Indian-style. The chapters follow your mood: Hungry for when you’re short of time, Lazy for something slower and comforting, Indulgent for weekend feasting, and Celebratory for when friends and family come over.

About the book Buy the book (opens in a new tab)

The story

About this recipe.

My first memory of eating this dish was in Old Delhi at the age of seven visiting my mum’s Punjabi friend at her family home located on a busy bustling street of the city. The smells wafting from the kitchen of the fried chicken, freshly made tandoori roti, chutneys along with halwa to finish the meal were enough to stay with me forever. I still remember the taste, textures and spicing of the Chicken Chargha I ate and it’s something that we have been cooking ever since at my home in India.

Traditionally a north Indian dish; kadhai chargha is made with marinated pieces of chicken which are fried in whole spices to form a thick gravy coating all the succulent chicken pieces. Served best with roti/ naan and a mint raita. The addition of ginger & chillies to finish the dish lends a delicious heat and also a refreshing texture & colour. I recently cooked this dish for the team at Sky TV and needless to say it was polished off with empty plates all round.

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