Chicken dopiaza is a curry hailing from the Bengal region of India.The Hindu words Do (two) and piaz (onions) refer to the fact that the onions are cooked two different ways; in the oven and fried, – and the large quantity of onions used.You can vary the amount of potatoes and chicken in the meal to suit your taste and budget, and this recipe is for a medium heat dopiaza – if you want to vary the heat, adjust the amount of chillies to your taste. You can also use yogurt instead of the cream if that's available, but you would only need a tablespoon or two of it.Pappadums/Poppadoms are an excellent accompaniment to this dish, so try to have these ready for when the curry is to be served.
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken breast (diced)
- 500 g white potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 400 g tin tomatoes (chopped)
- 150 ml double cream
- 6 onions
- 6 chillis
- 6 cardomom pods
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp ginger
- ½ tbsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp tumeric powder
- olive oil
Instructions
- To a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, add about 4 tbsp. of olive oil, 3 roughly chopped onions, and the diced chicken and cook until the chicken has turned white.
- Add four minced garlic cloves, and the bay leaves to the pan with the chicken, and cook for a minute or two.
- Next add, the cardomoms, and peppercorns.
- Whilst that is cooking, finely chop the chillies and add them to the chicken – I used a small food processor to avoid getting capsaicin on my fingers!
- After a minute, add the garam masala, tomatoes, and cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger to the chicken and stir through thoroughly – adding a little oil if needed to avoid any sticking to the pan.
- You can now add the diced potatoes, and the double cream to the mixture and stir it through.
- Cook the mixture at a medium heat for around 15 minutes, and pre-heat your oven to 180ºC, add a little water if its in danger of sticking or drying out.
- Transfer the chicken curry to an ovenproof dish, and cook for around 30 minutes – or until the potatoes are soft, and the chicken is cooked thoroughly.
- After the curry has been in the oven about 20 minutes, quarter the remaining onions, and fry them in a few tablespoons of oil until golden brown – this should take around ten minutes, and should be done in time to add to the curry when it is removed from the oven.
- When the curry is cooked, and the onions have been fried, you can now plate up the meal.
- Serve each person with a plate of dopiaza curry, topped with some of the fried onions, and ideally with a side of pappadums.
