Kadai chicken gravy | How to make restaurant style kadai chicken gravy

Kadai chicken gravy is a simple yet delicious Punjabi style side dish for Indian bread items. As the name suggests, this recipe Kadai chicken is prepared by cooking chicken pieces tenderly in an iron wok or kadai with flavorful spices.

The highlight of this restaurant-style kadai chicken recipe is the homemade instant kadai masala used for this recipe. We can use the same kadai masala for making kadai vegetable, kadai paneer gravies. Also, crunchily sautéed onions and green capsicum pieces give a nice texture to this gravy. Some restaurants serve kadai chicken as a dry item. Here I have given the recipe for kadai chicken gravy style.

This is one simple north Indian chicken dish, which gets a vital place in the menu of many restaurants. Prepare this kadai chicken gravy in just 30 minutes.

For other non-veg recipes: Chettinad fish gravy, Tawa fish fry, Country chicken gravy

For other chicken recipes: Chicken65, Dindigul chicken biryani

Let us see the recipe with stepwise pictures and a video.

Kadai chicken gravy | How to make restaurant style kadai chicken gravy

Sangskitchen

Summary: Kadai chicken gravy is a simple yet delicious Punjabi style side dish for Indian bread items. Learn how to make with simple picture instructions and a video.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4

Calories 400 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Ingredients:

To make kadai masala:

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 6-8 dry red chillies
• ½ tsp pepper corns
• ½ tsp jeera/cumin seeds
• ½ tsp garam masala powder

To make chicken masala:

• 1 tbsp oil or ghee
• ½ kg chicken
• 1 big onion
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tomatoes
• 4-6 cashews
• ½ tsp chilli powder optional
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tsp kasturi methi
• To add crunchiness:
• 1 big onion
• 1 small capsicum

To garnish:

• ½ tsp butter or ghee
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 green chilli

Instructions

 

Recipe to make kadai chicken gravy:

Preparation:

• Cut one big onion into cubes.
• Rinse and cut capsicum into cubes.
• Chop another big onion finely.
• Grind tomatoes and soaked cashew nuts into a puree.
• Wash chicken pieces and keep aside.

How to make kadai masala powder:

• Dry roast coriander seeds, redchillies, pepper corns, cumin seeds.
• Let the mix cool down.
• Take them in a blender jar, add garam masala, grind them into fine powder as shown.
• Kadai masala is ready.

How to make kadai chicken gravy:

• As a first step, in a pan saute capsicum and onion cubes for two mins until they turn transparent. Do not over fry or over cook them to make them soft. The vegetables should retain the crunchiness. Keep them aside.
• Heat a kadai with oil or ghee. Add finely chopped onions and roast them until golden brown color achieved.
• Stir continuously and add ginger garlic paste. Saute well to remove the raw flavor.
• Now add the freshly ground kadai masala powder and mix.
• Add pasted tomatoes and stir well.
• Cook the tomato-cashew paste until oil releases on top with the onions and kadai masala. In any gravy, cooking tomatoes and onions nicely is a very important step. Never add onion and tomato together as both have different cooking temperature. Always cook onion first and add tomato next, make sure to cook well.
• As optional step, you can add ½ tsp of chilli powder. Be careful with this as we have already added red chillies and pepper in the kadai masala. You can omit if you like mildly spiced gravy.
• Now add chicken pieces, mix with the masala. Close with lid for five mins.
• In five minutes the chicken pieces absorb the masala and spices. Now add half to one cup of water and close the lid, cook chicken for ten minutes.
• Add salt, mix with masala.
• Now add the crunchily sautéed onion and capsicum cubes.
• Finally add fresh cream. Make homemade cream instantly by whisking a tsp of the top layer( malai) of boiled milk. Collect the malai whenever you boil milk, store in a tight container in fridge and use as fresh cream for gravies.
• Crush kasturi methi and add. Mix with masala.
• Switch off. Serve kadai chicken gravy with roti, naan, chapati, jeera rice or with egg biryani.
• You can garnish with one tsp of ghee/butter, ginger&greenchilly julienne pieces 

Notes

Tips/notes:1)Use chicken with bones to make this kadai chicken gravy. If you are using boneless chicken pieces then reduce the cooking time from total 15mins to 10mins. Over cooking turns chicken harder. 2)You can marinate chicken pieces before making this gravy but it is not mandatory.

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal

Keyword kadai chicken gravy, kadai chicken masala

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Pictorial explanation:

Recipe to make kadai chicken gravy:

Preparation:

• Cut one big onion into cubes.
• Rinse and cut capsicum into cubes.
• Chop another big onion finely.
• Grind tomatoes and soaked cashew nuts into a puree.
• Wash chicken pieces and keep aside.

How to make kadai masala powder:

• Dry roast coriander seeds, redchillies, pepper corns, cumin seeds.
• Let the mix cool down.
• Take them in a blender jar, add garam masala, grind them into a fine powder as shown.
• Kadai masala is ready.

How to make kadai chicken gravy:

• As a first step, in a pan, saute capsicum and onion cubes for two mins until they turn transparent. Do not over fry or overcook them to make them soft. The vegetables should retain the crunchiness. Keep them aside.

• Heat a kadai with oil or ghee. Add finely chopped onions and roast them until golden brown color achieved.
• Stir continuously and add ginger garlic paste. Saute well to remove the raw flavor.

• Now add the freshly ground kadai masala powder and mix.
• Add pasted tomatoes and stir well.

• Cook the tomato-cashew paste with the onions and kadai masala until oil releases on top. In any gravy, cooking tomatoes and onions nicely is a very important step. Never add onion and tomato together as both of them have a different cooking temperature. Always cook onion first and add tomato next, make sure to cook well.
• As an optional step, you can add ½ tsp of chilli powder. Be careful with this as we have already added red chillies and pepper in the kadai masala. You can omit if you like mildly spiced gravy.

• Now add chicken pieces, mix with the masala. Close with a lid for five mins.

• In five minutes the chicken pieces absorb the masala and spices. Now add half to one cup of water and close the lid, cook chicken for ten minutes.

• Open the lid after ten minutes, add salt, mix with masala.

• Now add the crunchily sautéed onion and capsicum cubes.

• Finally, add fresh cream. Make homemade cream instantly by whisking a tsp of the top layer( malai) of boiled milk. Collect the malai whenever you boil milk, store in a tight container in the fridge and use as fresh cream for gravies.
• Crush kasturi methi and add. Mix with masala.

• Garnish with a tsp of ghee/butter, ginger, green chilli julienne pieces.

• Switch off. Serve kadai chicken gravy with roti, naan, chapati, jeera rice or with egg biryani.

Tips/notes:

1. You can skip fresh cream if you don’t like.
2. Use chicken with bones to make this kadai chicken gravy. If you are using boneless chicken pieces then reduce the cooking time from total 15mins to 10mins. Overcooking turns chicken harder.
3. You can marinate chicken pieces before making this gravy but it is not mandatory.

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