Chicken Bhuna Curry Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Welcome to my favourite ever chicken bhuna curry recipe. With tender chunks of chicken cooked in a rich sauce infused with garlic, chillis, ginger and tomato. It has so much flavor and it's surprisingly healthy!

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 1

Total Time1 1 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: bhoona, bhuna, bhuna curry, chicken, chicken bhuna, curry, fakeaway, indian

Servings: people

Calories: 184kcal

Author: Vikkie Lee

Equipment

Ingredients

Frylight
350 g chicken breast or skinless thighs diced
1 red chilli or ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
2 onions chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 knob fresh ginger finely grated or 1 teaspoon ginger puree
2 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground coriander
6 tomatoes chopped
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Put all the onions, garlic, optional chillies and ginger in a food processor with 3 tablespoon of water.
Blitz until you have a paste like consistency.
Spray your large pan with frylight. *Make sure you use one that has a lid.
Cook the onion paste on medium heat without a lid. Stirring for 3-4 minutes.
Now add the spices and seasoning.
Stir while frying for 3 minutes, ensuring until the paste is golden throughout.
Add the tomatoes and 300ml water.
Cover and bring to the boil.
Add the chicken and lemon juice and cover again while cooking on medium heat while stirring from time to time for 25-30 minutes.
You may need to add water as it should thicken during this time.

Video

Notes

Food processor or not, I recommend grating fresh ginger to prevent an overpowering taste, or use 1 tablespoon of ginger puree

By 5-10 minutes of your time, you can make the curry base ahead of time and make it into a pulp in a food processor without the chicken. Then portion into an ice cube tray and freeze. These can then be turned out into a zip lock bag.

If adding cooked chicken instead, reduce your final cooking time to 10-15 minutes.

While making this chicken bhuna recipe, chop the chicken into small bite-sized pieces to ensure they cook throughout to avoid eating raw meat.

When dealing with dry aromatic spices like cumin powder, masala, or coriander, avoid cooking them at a high temperature to avoid burning and losing their aroma.

We cook the ground spices for a couple of minutes toward the start of the process to give them every chance of releasing all of their flavours.

Cook the onions thoroughly to caramelize as it changes the final flavour significantly

A great tip for rice preparation (Basmati or pilau rice) - give them multiple rinses to remove the excess starch, then soak them for 20-25 minutes, this will give you extra fluffiness.

Nutrition