Kadai Chicken a.k.a Chicken Karahi

Kadai Chicken also known as Chicken Karahi is again one of those dishes you would find in most Indian restaurants.  This is usually made almost like a stir fry - but I made it a slightly saucy version. Kadai Chicken comes with a good mix of flavours and textures. A bit of tangyness from the tomatoes, a bit of crunch from the bell peppers (capsicums), sweetness from the onions and of course a bit of kick with the ginger julienne added as a garnish. This is a fairly quick one to prepare. This came up as a last minute dinner plan with an end to end preparation time within 30 minutes. Of course there is also distant cousin Kadai Paneer which is also prepared in a similar way with Paneer. Goes very well with warm rotis (or chappatis).


Ingredients

1. Diced chicken breast 
2. Onions - cut in cubes
3. Capsicums / Bell Peppers (Green) - cut in cubes
4. Tomatoes - roughly cut
5. Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon purely for colour
6. Ginger Garlic paste - freshly ground
7. Cashews - 2/3
8. Salt
9. Red Chilli powder - preferably Kashmiri chilli for colour
10. Cumin powder
11. Coriander powder
12. Garam masala
13. Kasuri Methi - dried fenugreek leaves
14. Milk
15. Ginger julienne - for garnish
16. Coriander leaves - for garnish

Method

1. Saute the cashews, onions (3/4ths of quantity diced) and tomatoes in any vegetable based oil until the tomatoes are mushy and set aside to cool.
2. You can dice the chicken while the onions / tomato cools down.
3. Blend the sauteed cashew, onion and tomato mix into a smooth paste
4. Heat a kadai (sauce pan) with oil and saute the blended paste along with ginger garlic paste and a tomato paste.
5. Saute until the oil separates and the raw flavour is gone.
6. Add salt, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, kasuri methi (crushed into a powder in your palm), chilli powder and saute for a few minutes until the spices are blended well.
7. Add the chicken pieces and cook with a closed lid for about 10 minutes.
8. Add water as much as needed for the sauce. Ideally prepared without water.
9. Add a dash of milk - whole cream version. You can substitute with cream as well.
10. Add the remaining onions and capsicums and saute for about 5 minutes. Need to stop before the capsicums 
11. Add a tea spoon of garam masala at the end.
12. Garnish with ginger julienne and coriander leaves.

Restaurant / Dhaba style Kadai Chicken ready!!

Happy Cooking

C