No Oil Chicken Curry

Recipe

This curry ticks all the marks of delicious chicken curry and the added bonus is it is super healthy with no oil in it. The thick gravy goes very well with rice or roti. Pin

No Oil Chicken Curry - you heard it right. This curry has zero oil but it is as delicious as any regular curry. This curry has everything that you need to make your regular curry except oil. The gravy is thick, has a creamy consistency and really flavourful. If you are wondering about the layer of oil (fat) at the top, then it's the fat from the chicken and yoghurt.

Indian Curry has always been picturised as heavily spiced with a layer of oil floating on the top. Unfortunately, most of the Indian restaurants serve that kind of dishes. But when you go to a normal Indian household, the food is always simple and well balanced. One would see minimal usage of oil and spices, yet very delicious food.Pin

How to make Chicken Curry?

Usually, Indian curry is prepared by first bhunoing (sauteing ) the masalas(onion, ginger garlic paste and other spices) followed by adding meat or veggies. I love the aroma when onion and other spices are beating caramelized in oil. It gives the depth of flour to the curry. But in for this recipe, we are going to follow a different approach.

The purpose of sauteing the aromatics is to get rid of the raw smell and caramelize the onion, garlic, ginger to develop flavour. For this recipe to avoid the raw smell, we are going to boil them in water. Add chopped onion, garlic and ginger to boiling water and cook.
Next step is marinating the chicken. Try to use full fat thick yoghurt for a rich gravy. Yoghurt tenderises the chicken and keeps it juicy. Add freshly ground spices, cooked onion, ginger, garlic paste to the chicken and marinate at least for 1 hour and up to 48 hours. Longer marination ensures juicy and succulent chicken.

After marination, the next step is to caramelize the chicken to develop flavour. Take a few pieces of chicken at a time, shake off excess marination and saute in medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. When a few brown spots start appearing, remove from the pan and add few more pieces.
Next step is to add everything back to the pan along with any marination and cook until the gravy has thickened.