Dhaba Style Chicken Curry

Dhaba Style Chicken Curry is a rustic punjabi chicken curry served at the dhabas (road side diners) in north india. Oily, spicy and full of robust flavors, dhaba chicken curry is ready under an hour needing no marination or grinding of spice pastes!

Chicken curries are a weekly affair in our home. I have a few weeknight favorites such as palak chicken, chicken keema curry, coconut chicken curry and methi chicken that I pick and choose from depending on what we are craving.

On weeknights, I like to keep things quick and hence this dhaba chicken curry is my go to recipe on most days because of how uncomplicated it is. May I also suggest, another fuss-free favorite? It's chicken masala.

This dhaba style chicken curry features succulent drumsticks (or use bone in, cut up whole chicken) in a rich, bold gravy perfect for soaking up with warm tandoori rotis. The chicken flavored gravy is equally delicious ladled over warm steamed basmati rice, however ideal pairing is roti or paratha-just how it is served with dhabas.

Jump to:

• About Indian Chicken Curries
• Dhaba Chicken Curry 
• Ingredients ( Notes & Substitutions)
• How To Make Dhaba Chicken Curry
• Serving Suggestions 
• My Tips
• Dhaba Style Chicken Curry Recipe

About Indian Chicken Curries

In India cuisine, there are countless chicken curry recipes. Chicken curry is comfort food and as with most classic dishes, the recipes vary from cook to cook. Depending on who is making it, the region of india and whats available seasonally or locally, there are ton of ways a single chicken curry recipe is made in our kitchens.

That, I guess is the versatile nature of curry- you can add or skip ingredients as they like, taste while cooking and in the process develop your own kind - soupy, saucy, spicy, tangy, sweetish. My husband likes a thick masala chicken curry, for mom, it's the bite of coarse ground spices in the masala. For dad, curry needs to be way soupy than the usual. When I make chicken curry for friends they like the creamy- sweetish mughlai kind. 

However, there are few things which remain universally true no matter which part of India you are in. Authentic indian style chicken curries are

• not made with skin on chicken 
• do not use chicken stock or bouillon cubes
• store bought curry pastes or powder 
• roux or cornstarch to thicken the sauce

Dhaba Chicken Curry 

Dhaba are roadside eateries all across India. I would compare them to diners. Soul warming food served family style. When we used to go on road trips, dhaba stops were frequent and the meals there used to be the highlight of our trips. If I may say so, dhaba dishes form a cuisine of their own in India. Homely and rustic, food is uncomplicated and fills you with sheer joy. Most punjabi dhaba recipes are easy and straight forward to approach.

Dhaba Chicken Curry is a spicy punjabi style chicken curry which used to be a must on our order with tandoori rotis. Simple to make & flavorful, dhaba chicken curry is slow cooked and made with few ingredients that are easily available at home. Even if you have bare minimum spices in your rack, you can still turn chicken into this gratifying curry. For this reason, I love to make it on busy weeknights.

In my recipe of dhaba chicken curry, 

• You do not need to marinate the chicken for hours. Just a quick 10 minute tenderizing with fresh lime juice while you make the masala base.
• No need to grind spice pastes. We will just soak the whole & powdered spices in hot water before using.
• You don't need to saute the spices in oil either. Cuts time by almost 10 minutes. I would say this is semi - throw in a pot and let cook kind of curry. It is very simple to make needing least attention. However, comes out delicious every time. 

Ingredients ( Notes & Substitutions)

• Bone In Chicken. I like using chicken drumsticks. You can use bone in chicken thighs or 8 piece family packs available in stores.
• Fresh Lemon Or Lime Juice.
• Mustard Oil. For the unique pungent and smoky flavor. North indian food is best made using it. Substitute with avocado or any neutral oil.
• Whole Spices - Bay Leaf, dried chillies, black pepper corn, cloves, black cardamom. Skip if you do not have any in the pantry. Black cardamom is one of my most favorite spice to use in non vegetarian dishes. It is easily available in indian stores and has a long shelf life. It's woody aroma is totally different from the delicate, balmy fragrance of green cardamom so the two cannot be substituted for each other.
• Powdered Spices- Coriander, Kashmiri Red Chili Powder or Paprika, Red Chili Powder or Cayenne, Turmeric & Garam Masala Powder.
• Onions - Onions sliced not too thin or thick. Browned onions contribute hugely to the flavor of this curry.
• Tomato - Campari tomatoes are my most favorite to use in indian curries and since they are small in size, use 2. Next favorite is roma tomatoes, one medium tomato - halved and each half thinly sliced.
• Fresh Ginger & Garlic. Simply pound garlic cloves using mortar and pestle or homemade garlic paste is great to have at hand. Julienne the ginger. Please avoid using store bought ginger garlic paste. 
• Full Fat Yogurt. Or hung curd. Best is if you can use indian style dahi from the indian or pakistani stores. You can use plain greek yogurt but I find its less tangy to use in curries. 
• Ghee or Butter - For finishing. Punjabi dhaba chicken dishes are served with lashings of butter and truly they add so much to the final taste of the dish. That said, this curry is quite oily so you can skip if you wish to.

Few Notes

1. For the best flavor, make sure that you choose good quality chicken. I buy a pack of organic drumsticks or chicken thighs from Trader Joes or Sprouts. If you have middle eastern(or halal stores) near you, they carry small size whole chickens (quite similar to desi chickens). Very kindly, they will butcher the chicken for you. At my store, the guy asks me how many pieces I want. I go for medium or curry cut which is about 10-12 pieces from 1 whole chicken.
2. I do not recommend using boneless chicken in this recipe. You can try my recipe of methi chicken or yogurt & cardamom chicken if you wish to cook with boneless chicken.
3. The fresher your spices are, the better the flavor of chicken curry.

How To Make Dhaba Chicken Curry

• Since the chicken drumsticks I get here in US are quite fleshy, using a sharp knife, I prefer to make 1-2 gashes in them (if you are using smaller or desi chickens, leave them as it is).
• Add chicken to a large bowl and rub with fresh lemon or lime juice and salt. Let the chicken sit nearby while you work on making the masala.
• Add the spices(whole & ground) to a bowl and add hot water. Mix and let spices soak while you brown the onions.

• Whisk the yogurt and garam masala and set aside. If using greek yogurt, thin out with a little water.
• In a dutch oven (or any large pot with lid), heat up the mustard oil and brown the onions on low medium heat. The browned onions impart so much flavor to this curry and this step takes about 8-12 minutes. Brown the onions to nice golden shade but not overly dark else they become bitter.

• Layer or add the chicken to the onions. Add the soaked spices on top of the chicken along with ginger garlic and salt. Mix to combine well. Add the tomato slices and cover the pot. Let cook for 15-18 minutes (or more depending on the chicken quality, cut and size) or until the chicken is 95 percent cooked.

• Open the lid and add beaten yogurt to the pot. Continuously stir to make sure that the yogurt does not curdle.

• Let the chicken cook for additional 8-10 minutes until you see a film of oil on top as well as oil bubbles.
• Finish with ghee/butter and cilantro. Dhaba chicken curry is ready! Note :- You can add a little crushed kasuri methi as well.

Please see recipe card for detailed instructions.

Serving Suggestions 

Serve dhaba chicken curry with rotis and a quick kachumber salad, green chutney or vinegar pickled onions. You can pair it with paratha, jeera rice or steamed rice as well. If you love a side of raita with sucg rich and spicy curries, pair it with boondi raita or cucumber raita. This curry tastes better next day so don't forget to plan leftovers.

For a full dhaba meal experience, make dal makhani, dal maharani and naan to go along!

My Tips

• Don't skimp on oil. Dhaba curries are rich and oily and that's the authentic taste.
• Use good quality, fresh spices. They make a lot of difference in the taste of the curry.
• Here, in the US, I feel that the chicken cooks so quickly in about 20-25 minutes. However if you are doubtful, you can use meat thermometer to check the temperature of thickest part of the chicken- should read 165F for fully cooked chicken.
• To avoid yogurt from curdling - Use room temperature yogurt and as soon as you add it to the curry,continously stir for at least 2-3 minutes or till yogurt becomes part of the gravy.
• You can add smoky taste (dhungar) to this dhaba curry by lightning a small piece of charcoal, add it to a bowl and place the bowl over the curry. Drizzle ghee on the charcoal and close the lid for 6-8 minutes.
• Let the chicken curry rest for at least 30 minutes. I cannot stress this enough. The flavors are so much better. You can reheat and serve.