Chicken Madras

Add the onion, garlic cloves, peeled ginger and red chilli to a food processor. Blitz until it becomes a paste.

Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and then add the paste. Fry for around 5 minutes, until slightly softened. You can add water to the pan if it starts to stick.

Add the turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander and hot chilli powder to the saucepan, and then stir. Allow the spices to warm, and, once fragrant, add the diced chicken breasts. Ensure the chicken is fully coated in the spice mix. Cook the chicken until there’s no pink meat showing.

Add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Then cover the saucepan and cook on a low heat for around 30 minutes.

Once the chicken is tender, stir through the coriander. Serve with rice or naan (or both) and a dollop of mango chutney.

Tips & tricks

When it comes to chicken madras, fresh coriander is the only way to finish it. It helps the flavours to shine and adds a delicious citrus element. We’ve shared a fairly easy list of chicken madras ingredients above, but you can vary the list depending on your taste preferences. For example, many recipes call for black pepper and garam masala for an additional spicy kick. Other common ingredients found in a chicken madras can include fenugreek and tamarind, to add an additional flavour depth and tangy taste to the curry.

If you find your chicken madras is a little dull on the flavour front after cooking, you can add more spice to help lift the flavour. We highly recommend using diced chicken breast for the recipe, but if you do want to look at other options, we have a helpful article here on the different cuts of chicken. This recipe also doesn’t call for a long cooking time or marinating the chicken. The flavours come together better when fried quickly as in our recipe above. At any time during cooking, if you find the ingredients are sticking to the pan, simply add a splash of water. 

Origin of the recipe

The chicken madras recipe is said to originate from the city of Madras (now known as Chennai), but many of the popular curries we know today actually originated in England, like Chicken Tikka Masala. Indeed, the name ‘madras’ isn’t actually commonly used in India to describe this recipe, but rather was invented by British restaurants. Typically, madras has been largely used to describe a spicy sauce for meat, but chicken madras as we know it today is now a popular item on many Indian restaurant’s menus across the world. If you’re looking to find out more about the history of curry in general, take a look at our brief explanation here. Or if you’re simply curious to explore more Indian food for inspiration, we have a host of recipes available here.

Storage

You can store most freshly made chicken curries in the fridge for up to two days, but it’s generally better to eat on the day of cooking.