Hariyali Chicken Curry (Indian Green Chicken Curry)

This is such a tasty curry with loads of flavour. It is fairly easy to put together as long as you have prepared our Green Chicken Tikka marinade earlier in the week and it is sitting in a jar in the fridge.

So essentially I encourage you to make our Green Chicken Tikka or Hariyali Chicken Kebab and then use the leftover marinade to make this Indian version of Green Chicken Curry. I normally make this curry the same week I make Green Chicken Tikka. Then I simply use the leftover marinade to make this curry quite effortlessly as long as you have some pantry staples. It turns into the most beautiful Indian Green Chicken Curry much like a saag.

For my Chicken Saag recipe though I like to use some grated fresh daikon aka Chinese radish along with the spinach puree. There is a recipe link on our site for this dish.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 large red onion, finely sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cloves, lightly bashed till aromatic
• 1 small cinnamon bark
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste
• 5 cm fresh ginger, finely crushed
• 4 green chillies, ground
• 3 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp flat turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 6 green cardamons, roughly ground with skin on
• 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
• 1 kg diced chicken pieces on the bone (more flavour and less likely to dry out in the cooking process)
• ¼ cup water
• 1½ cups leftover sauce from Green Chicken Tikka Marinade (refer to recipe on this)
• ½ tsp Latasha’s Kitchen Garam Masala

Method

1. In a round deep saucepan, add some oil and ghee and allow the mixture to get fairly hot. Add the sliced onions, bashed cloves and cinnamon bark and fry on low heat with a pinch of salt until onions are caramelised and golden brown
2. Then add ground fresh ginger and garlic paste, and brown this mix nicely for 4-5 minutes, stirring continuously before adding ground green chillies.
3. Fry for another 5 minutes then add red chilli, turmeric and coriander powders into the mix. Fry this curry paste very well until aromatic. Into this fragrant base add ground cardamons and chicken pieces and mix well for about 5 minutes until the chicken pieces are coated with the spice mix.
4. Add water and simmer for about 20 minutes with a lid on. The chicken juices will separate at this point. Remove the lid and continue cooking the chicken on medium to high until most of the juice evaporates and it resembles a dry curried chicken.
5. Now add blended green coriander marinade sauce plus a touch more fresh Latasha’s Kitchen Garam Masala. Do not add any water, tomatoes or vegetables to this dish as it will compromise the delicate balance of flavours.
6. The gravy for this dish should be thick, green and spicy.
7. Serve with yoghurt to cool it down or a dash of cream. Great with rice and sauteed greens or vegetables or with Indian flat breads and fresh salad on the side.

Note: I prefer using diced bone-in chicken thighs, drumsticks or marylands for this dish.