Nazaha's Bengali Chicken Curry
This 35-minute Bengali chicken curry is a delicious stovetop chicken recipe with chicken pieces, whole spices, ground spices, onions, garlic paste, and ginger paste.
This Bangla chicken curry recipe is a common recipe in Bengali households with many different names. In Bengali, murgir jhol means chicken gravy, murgir gosto means chicken meat, and murgir lal jhol means red chicken gravy.
I was visiting my dear friend, Nazaha (of Bengali heritage), and she made me this simple chicken curry for dinner. What blew me away was how easy and flavorful it was! Nazaha was kind enough to give me her mother's recipe and help me troubleshoot it until it was perfect (many messages back and forth). I give step-by-step instructions below for the best Bengali chicken curry recipe ever.
What You Will Love
Are you looking for ways to be adventurous in the kitchen but unsure how? A great way to try something new is to use unfamiliar spices. This healthy chicken recipe is perfect for dipping your toes into new flavors (like this chicken biryani rice). Say goodbye to bland chicken recipes!
Another great thing about this light chicken curry is the health benefits. Turmeric is known to have anti-inflammatory benefits, preventing cancer and heart disease. The health benefits of ginger are attributed to gingerol, a bioactive compound known for its medicinal benefits.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken pieces: Curry dishes have chicken pieces cut into chunks. This recipe has bone-in chicken thighs with the skin removed and boneless skinless chicken tenders. Substitute all dark meat or all white meat. Trim the meat from the bone, but use the bone in the curry for extra flavor.
- Garlic paste and ginger paste: There are a few options- either fresh, frozen, or bottled. The main tip is that the garlic and ginger are in paste form.
- Whole curry spices: Whole spices are different from ground spices. These spices must be whole: bay leaves, cardamom pods, cassia bark (similar to cinnamon sticks), and whole cloves.
- Ground curry spices: Use turmeric powder, garam masala powder, ground cumin, and coriander powder. Garam masala is a common curry powder used in Indian and Bengali cuisine. You can find all the spices at an Indian grocer.
How To Make Bengali Chicken Curry
Prep the chicken. Remove the skin from the bone-in chicken thighs. Trim the meat around the bone. Cut the thighs and white meat into 1.5" (4 cm) small pieces.
Dice the onions and mince the fresh garlic cloves. On medium-high heat, fry the onion and minced garlic in ghee.
Once the onions soften, add the garam masala powder, turmeric powder, bay leaves, cassia bark, cardamom pods, whole cloves, coriander powder, cumin powder, and a little salt.
Add the chicken curry pieces and trimmed chicken bone (add flavor to the gravy).
Mix well. Add the tomato paste.
Let the chicken cook until the chicken juices start to come out (about 10 to 12 minutes). This is important! Don't add water until you see chicken juices forming a thick gravy.
Heat a little water in a kettle. Add the hot water. Turn the stove down to low heat and simmer for another 10 minutes. The cooking time might vary a little.
Garnish with fresh cilantro (coriander leaves) and red chilis. Serve with steamed white rice or vermicelli rice. Add some sauteed okra for extra veggies.
Curry Tips
- The most important tip for this recipe is adding water after the chicken juices come out. The chicken meat takes about 10 to 12 minutes to sweat the fat out on medium-high heat.
- Don't substitute ground spices for whole spices. Ground cinnamon or ground cardamom cannot be substituted for the whole spice.
- Use chicken with the bone for extra flavor! The bone adds flavor to the chicken gravy.
- Don't add too much water; otherwise, you will have runny curry.
Recipe Substitutions
- Substitute a small piece of cinnamon stick for cassia bark. Cinnamon has a strong flavor, so you want just a small piece.
- Add red chili powder, cayenne pepper, or fresh chilis to make the delicious curry spicier.
- Add potato chunks to make this a chicken and potato curry recipe.
📋 Recipe
Nazaha's Bengali Chicken Curry
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone-in chicken thighs remove the skin, see note 1
- 1 lb boneless chicken breast or chicken tenders see note 1
- 2 cups diced onions
- 1½ cups water
Curry Spices
- 8 cloves minced garlic mince fresh or use garlic paste
- 2 tablespoon ginger paste use frozen or bottled
- 4 teaspoon ground garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste optional
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cardamom pods
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 small cassia barks substitute a small piece of cinnamon stick
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken. Remove the skin from the bone-in chicken thighs using kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Cut around the bone and into small pieces about 1.5" (4 cm) in size. Keep the chicken bone. You will use it to add flavor.
- Dice the onion. Mince the garlic (if using fresh garlic). Measure out the spices. This makes things easier as you cook.
- In a large pot on medium-high heat, fry the diced onions and minced garlic in oil (or ghee). Once the onions soften, add the ground spices (garam masala, turmeric, coriander, and cumin), whole spices (cassia bark, cardamom pods, cloves), bay leaves, and salt. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add the chicken pieces (including the chicken bone) and tomato paste. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes until the chicken juices come out. Add water. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice. Garnish with chopped cilantro and fresh chilis.
Equipment
Notes
- This recipe mixes bone-in thigh meat and boneless chicken white meat. However, you can make this recipe with white meat or dark meat. I prefer a combination because the bone adds flavor to the curry, and I like chicken white meat.
- Nutrition facts don't include rice.
- Store this Bengali chicken recipe in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
I'm confused by note 1. Am I to cut the thigh meat off the bone, but still throw the bone in the curry for flavor? I'm confused how to prepare the check thighs. Thanks
Hi Mike,
Yes, that’s correct- you cut the meat off the bone but keep the bone in the curry gravy for flavor!
Needs about 1 to 2 tsp of ground cayenne pepper powder to make it nice and spicy. Add it to the sauteed onion in step 2 with all the spices. I wouldn't recommend Kaskmiri chili powder because it's so mild. It's more for just adding red color to curries.
Hi Cabo! Wow thanks for the comments. I’ll try the chili powder next time.
If I were to use chicken breast, as I am trying to reduce the amount of fat, would it be best to sear it prior to adding the water?
That's a good question- yes you would want to sear the chicken before adding water. Also, don't add too much liquid, or it will be soup instead of a thick gravy consistency.
What about the ginger?
Hi Sri, this recipe uses ginger paste, but you can use fresh ginger. Just mash the the peeled fresh ginger into a paste for the best results.