Dhaba style chicken curry (within 30 minutes)

Dhaba style chicken curry recipe with step by step photo and a video. This is the easy chicken curry recipe for beginners. You can make this dhaba style chicken curry quickly for dinner in just 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.

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Chicken curry made in dhaba style is thick, spicy and super delicious. The chicken pieces are soft, tender and absorb all the flavors of the gravy.

If you are a beginner or never made chicken curry, then give this recipe a try. I can assure you that it is the best chicken curry recipe.

For making the chicken curry, you need some simple spices, make an onion-tomato gravy base, roast the chicken in spices and then pressure cook the chicken. In just 30 minutes, yummy delicious dhaba style chicken curry is ready to serve.

What is a Dhaba:

Dhabas are the roadside restaurants in India that serve delicious local cuisine. The ingredients used to prepare the food at dhaba are simple and locally available.

Earlier, the dhaba serve food to the truck drivers. The food prepared in the dhaba resembles homemade food and was quite inexpensive compared to restaurants.

The dhaba had a wooden cot to sit and a wooden plank is placed across the cot that is used as a table. Food is placed on the wooden plank. But they are now replaced by a table and chairs.

Slowly, the popularity of the food prepared in dhaba increased and now it is visited by everyone. Dhabas serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

I remember growing up in North India, we love to visit the dhaba. There is an open kitchen and you can see the food being prepared. The heavenly aroma of the dishes makes you hungrier.

We would love to have Naan, dal fry, chicken curry, paneer masala and a big glass of lassi to finish the meal at the dhaba. All this you can enjoy with some old melodious Bollywood songs playing there.

The curry served in the dhaba is spicy and has a smoky flavor. Hot fresh Naan directly from tandoor with ample amount of butter on the top, …aah…I miss all these here in South India.

What is Dhaba style of cooking?

Dhaba style of cooking involves sautéing each ingredient a bit longer than normal. The basic philosophy behind this is that all the ingredients should be cooked well so that it should not get spoiled easily. Also, cooking each ingredient to perfection brings out all the delicious flavors inside it.

The chicken curry is spicy & has rustic flavors. They use the spices that are available locally. Thus, the recipe for the same curry differs in terms of spices used from one region to another.

Dhaba style gravy is cooked in more oil compared to a normal curry. Traditionally, the curry is cooked in clarified butter but nowadays they are made using oil.

Dhaba style gravy gets its unique flavor from Kasuri Methi and Gram flour. Kasuri methi gives a nice aroma to the curry. Gram flour acts as a thickening agent that thickens the curry.

Cooking Tips:

1. Cook perfectly all the ingredients. Fry onions, ginger, and garlic till the raw smell from it leaves.
2. Gram flour should be roasted well. If it remains undercooked then it can spoil the entire flavor of the dish. Gram flour helps to thicken the gravy and also gives a nice flavor to it.
3. You can dry roast the gram flour separately until golden and then add it to the curry while adding all the spice powders.
4. While adding water after roasting gram flour and spices, add little water at a time. You should keep the consistency of the gravy thick before pressure cooking it.
5. You can replace the gram flour with cashew paste. Soak 6-7 cashew nuts in hot water for 10 minutes and grind it to a fine paste. You can add it to the gravy after roasting the chicken in the spices.
6. Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) gives a nice rustic flavor to the dish. If it is not easily available then you can skip adding it to the gravy.
7. You can skip adding one or two whole spices if it is not easily available. But do add some whole spices for tempering as it enhances the flavor of the gravy.
8. You can replace Kashmiri red chili powder with normal red chili powder. Kashmiri red chili powder gives a bright red color to the gravy and is less spicy.

What to serve with the chicken curry (dhaba style)?

You can serve the chicken curry with Roti/Naan or steamed rice or jeera rice.

How to make dhaba style chicken curry

1. Heat clarified butter in a pressure cooker.
2. Add whole spices and cumin. Saute for a minute.
3. When the spices release a nice aroma, add onions and sauté until they are translucent.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste and mix.
5. Sauté until onions are golden color. Stir occasionally.
6. Now lower the flame and add gram flour, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and red chili powder.
7. Stir continuously, cook until oil separates from the spices. Be careful not to burn the spices.
8. Add half a cup of water, little by little and mix.
9. Keep the flame on high and add tomato puree and mix.
10. Next, add green chili, salt, and mix.
11. Let the gravy come to a boil. Stir occasionally and cook until oil separates from the gravy.
12. Add chicken pieces, saute it in the spices and cook until the color of chicken changes from pink to white.
13. Finally add 1 cup water, lemon juice, chopped coriander leaves, kasoori methi, and garam masala powder.
14. Cover with the lid and cook for 2 whistles. Switch off the flame. Let the pressure settle down on its own.
15. Chicken curry is ready to serve.
16. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
17. Serve the chicken curry hot with Roti/Naan or steamed rice.

If you like this dhaba style chicken curry recipe, you may also like:

• Dhaba style paneer masala
• Egg curry Dhaba style
• Dhaba style shahi anda curry

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