Madras chicken curry / Tamil Nadu style chicken gravy recipe – easy to make simple, delicious spicy gravy. As the name implies its typical Chennai (formerly known as Madras) style Kozhi Varutha kari, a very common spicy gravy which can be either like a thick masala or semi-gravy. We always make chicken or mutton gravy with freshly ground masala, often using ammikal…. 😥 i can still sense the sunday morning kuzhambu thalikkum vasanai in the air 😛 smells nostalgic! Today, I am sharing my favorite chicken gravy..what more can you expect from a Chennai girl 🙂 Call it however you want it… curry or masala or gravy (adding ground coconut paste at the end can get you a light creamy gravy- check this Madras Chicken Kuzhambu version) which is a regular at my place on sundays and i have nothing to intro more on this…. the taste speaks for itself!
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| Ingredients for the masala | |
| Dry red chilies | 6 chillies (kundu milagai or long chilli) |
| Coriander seeds | 2 tablespoons |
| Black peppercorns | 1 teaspoon |
| Fennel seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| Cumin seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| Onion | 2 cups (chopped) |
| Tomato | 1/2 cup (chopped) |
| Garlic | 5 cloves |
| Ginger | 2 inch |
| Cinnamon | 1 inch stick |
| Cloves | 3 |
| Cardamom | 1 |
| Star anise | 2 petals |
| Oil | 3 tablespoons |
| Ingredients for the Gravy | |
| Chicken (naatu kozhi / country chicken preferred) | 1 pounds or 1/2 kg (Marinate with 1/2 teaspoon salt and turmeric powder) |
| Bay leaf | 2 leaves |
| Curry leaves | 5 leaves |
| Salt | 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) |
| Oil | 2 tablespoons |
| Curry leaves | 1 sprig for garnish |
Check out our other South Indian style chicken recipes – Chicken Kuzhambu Muniyandi Vilas Style Kudamilagai Kozhi Varuval Chicken Sukka Chicken Chettinad Recipe Pepper Chicken Kuzhambu Naatu kozhi kuzhambu Chicken curry Kozhi Kari Kurma – சிக்கன் குருமா CHICKEN SALNA Side Gravy for Biryani
To start with, clean chicken pieces and marinate with little salt and turmeric powder.
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and start toasting the spices – Dry red chilies, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, fennel seeds & cumin seeds. Just toast for few minutes over medium flame.
Once the spices are toasted, add in chopped onion, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes until the onion becomes translucent.
While sauteing, add in the whole garam masala…cinnamon, cloves, cardamom & star anise. Saute for few minutes and switch off. Let this cool a bit.
Grind this in a mixer.. you may add little water to run the mixer.
Make a smooth paste as shown and keep this aside.
Heat oil a big frying pan and temper with few bay & curry leaves.
Now add in the chicken pieces to the oil.
Saute the chicken the hot oil until the flesh cook half way through.
Add in the ground masala and saute along with the chicken.
Add salt and 1/2 cup water to the chicken.
Cover and cook over low medium flame for 10 minutes.
Once done, the chicken will be fully cooked and gravy will look thick with oil separating on the top.
Garnish with more curry leaves and switch off! Serve as a side dish for piping hot idlis, kal dosai, roti or even rice.
Notes
- Serves 3- 4 adults
- Excellent side dish for hot idlis, kal dosai, chapati… even with simple rasam sadam.
- Try to make this dish with Naatu Kozhi / Country Chicken / Cornish Hen.
- Any cooking oil is fine but Nallennai brings in that homely touch!
Comments
25 responses to “Madras Chicken Curry – Kozhi Kari Masala – South Indian Chicken Curry”
I am so excited to try this recipe. It looks amazing! Can you recommend other types of Chili? I can’t find these kinds of chili in my area (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). Would Kashmiri chili (ground) be a substitute? Or Long green chili?
Hello Brenna,
Thanks for checking out this recipe. Yes you can substitute with red chili powder / cayenne, Kashmir chili powder might work but it won’t be spicy enough, green chilies will work for adding spice level but a little compromise on the color and taste. Whole dry red chilies are available on amazon, if you wanna check out.
Option 1 : Add 2 tsp kashmir red chili powder + 3 green chilies for heat.
Option 2 : Add 2 tsp Hot Red chili powder / Cayenne
Hope this helps, thank you!
MMMM……. YUMMY TASTE AND TEXTURE,,,,,CONGRATULATION …….
Thank you!
Hello Mullai,
Tons for thank you for delicious , authentic yet simple recipes. Whatever I have tried from your site it all came out very tasty. You are a very passionate cook and I can feel the joy you are sharing by making this wonderful recipes available to us. I can’t tell you how satisfied people feel after eating the dishes I have tried from your wonderful recipes.
I believe what makes wonderful food is not only cooking but your feelings while you cook and you serve.
Thank you so much ?.
Soooooo happy to read your feedback Rhea? appreciate you taking time to write one, thanks a ton ma ???
Tried this recipe and it was awesome. The only bad thing is that I should have made more because it was a big hit!
Haha ?you’re too funny! Thanks Marilyn❤️
This recipe looks extremely delicious and I cannot wait to try it. However, am I supposed to grind the cinnamon stick, clove, cardammon and the star anise along with the other ingredients or take them out first and re-add them later them after grinding ? I am not sure my grinder can grind such hard ingredients into a fine paste.
If I cannot find star anise would it change the recipe a lot if I omit it?
Hello,
Yes, they need to be ground along with onion. If you can’t then substitute with any store bought garam masala powder. If grinding is hard then you may just temper them while you add the bay leaf, that is equally good too. Star anise adds in a special flavor, its ok to skip if you can’t find. Fresh ground spice does make a difference, i would recommend you to dry toast them first and grind to coarse powder and then grind along with onions that way they will blend well. Thanks!
Hi,
Thank you for the recepie. The curry came out really well. Added a few cashews and pistas for a difference.
Regards,
Vivek
Hello Vivek,
That’s a nice idea, i should try it too! Thank you so much for your ?feedback!
Isn’t it the best one to have some fun with kid? even as an adult I do drool over something like this?..with vanilla ice cream, I am totally in too! Thanks Madhu?
Wow! This recipe was awesome! Everyone totally loved it…gave a typical namma ooru taste ..thank you
Thank you Lin, so happy to hear!
Thank u so much Akka. The curry came out really tasty and yummy.??
Thank you ma☺️☺️☺️☺️
Tried this recipe yesterday for my friends. Everyone loved it. Thank you!
Thanks Deepa!
Will this change if I use chicken breast instead?
Would it be cooked differently?
Rishanth,
You can use any cut chicken…boneless works! but whole chicken (or chicken with bones is much tastier though! Thanks!
Thank you very much for this recipe. I purchased The Curry Guy’s book but your recipe looks a lot easier. I will definitely be making this recipe very soon. Thanks again.
Thanks James, I would to hear once you tried..
Very excited to try your recipes, I have a wonderful stock of spices and my curry leaves are plentiful this year on my plant. Thank you!
Thank you Tina??? let me know how you like it!