Traditional and authentic one pot Chicken Korma recipe made in the Pakistani and North Indian way. A step by step guide to make delicious Authentic Chicken Korma curry at home.
Korma or Qorma is a classic Subcontinent dish made by braising meat in yoghurt, onions and aromatic spices. This is Pakistani or North Indian version of Authentic Chicken Korma. Its mildly spicy with smooth sauce and is very aromatic. This korma recipe regularly makes round to my dinner table along with other recipes like Chicken Curry, Chicken Biryani and Boneless Chicken Karahi
Korma made from scratch is definitely worth trying its thousand times better than using premade sauces and pastes. You wont ever go back to them once you have tried Authentic Chicken Korma recipe.
HOW TO MAKE Authentic CHICKEN KORMA ?
Before you read on, let me just tell you, don’t get scared by long list of spices. Korma is all about spices and their main purpose is to give the rich taste and aroma to the gravy .
The ingredients required for Chicken Korma are below:
Chicken – Chicken with bones cut into small pieces. The boneless chicken simply doesn’t work with Korma.
Yoghurt – Plain/Greek yoghurt is the used in korma, it makes the gravy thick. Tomatoes are not used in korma so it relies on yoghurt to form the gravy. The gravy is made from fried onions and yoghurt.
Spices – lets break the spices into 2 groups . First is the regular spices like red chilli powder, paprika, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. The second is aromatic spices, this includes green cardamom, black cardamom, black pepper corns, cloves, bay leaves and lastly mace. Mace is dry coating of nutmeg seed. If you are unable to find it, substitute it with pinch of nutmeg.
Coriander/Cilantro – is used as sauce ingredient not as a garnish. Add it in the end and leave it to cook with the sauce. It releases its flavours and gives an amazing flavour to korma.
The method of making Chicken Korma is fairly simple. Firstly fry the onions in the oil and take them out once golden brown. In the same oil add all the aromatic spices , along with ginger garlic and chicken . Add the remaining spices followed by yoghurt and fried onions. The gravy then simmers untill its thick and it it absorbs all the flavours from spices.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE AUTHENTIC CHICKEN KORMA
TIPS FOR MAKING AUTHENTIC CHICKEN KORMA
- Don’t skimp on oil. It seems that this recipe is using a lot of oil but its is very essential. Korma has this distinct layer of oil on top of it and its the characteristic of a good korma.
- When frying onions make sure they don’t get too dark. The darker the onions, the darker will be the gravy colour. Just aim for light golden brown.
- Make sure to cook the chicken enough to be tender but don’t over cook which will result in meat falling off the bone.
- When adding yoghurt, its important to remove the pot from heat or turn the stove off. It prevents yoghurt from getting curdled which doesn’t make good appearance in gravy and it makes it grainy. Mix the yoghurt in and then return it to the medium heat.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH KORMA?
Its best to eat Korma with naan/flatbread. Some people eat steam rice with it, but Naan is by far the best option. The scrumptious sauce definitely deserves a naan to be dipped into it.
Try my recipe for Easy Naan (Flat Bread)
MORE DELICIOUS CURRIES TO TRY:
Chicken Korma
Ingredients
- 700 g Lamb (Cut into small pieces) See Notes
- 1 Large Onion
- 1 Cup Plain Yoghurt
- 1 tbsp Garlic Ginger paste
- 1½ tsp Salt
- 1½ tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder Alt Paprika
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1½ tsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 6-8 Black Peppercorns
- Pinch Nutmeg Powder
- 5-6 Cloves
- 3-4 Green Cardamoms
- 2 Pieces Mace See notes
- 1 Black Cardamoms
- 1/2 Cup Oil
- Coriander/Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- In a pot heat oil and fry onions untill golden brown.
- Takes them out on paper towel and set aside.
- In the same oil add bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, cumin, mace, green and black cardamom. Temper for a minute and add garlic ginger paste.
- Add meat and fry until it changes to whitish colour.
- Add salt, red chilli, paprika, turmeric and coriander powder. Fry the meat for around 5 minutes.
- If you are using pressure cooker add 1 cup of water and cook for around 15 minutes. If you are not using pressure cooker add little bit of more water. Cover and cook on low heat for 40 minutes or until meat is tender.
- Blend yoghurt and fried onions together using stick blender. Alternatively crush fried onions with hands and mix them in the yoghurt.
- Remove the pot from heat and add yoghurt to the meat. Stir in until well combined.
- Return it back to heat and cook on medium flame until water from yoghurt evaporates and oil starts to separate.
- You can add little water to adjust the consistency of gravy and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.
- Garnish it with some cilantro/coriander.
Notes
- You can use Lamb with bone or boneless. Trim the fat of the meat pieces.
