This Dhaba Style Chicken Curry stands for every road trip we’ve had with our families. It stands for all the stop-overs and midway cravings. It is hot and fragrant and is made with ground spices, onions and tomatoes. Its perfect for a family lunch or dinner over which you can reminisce!
Dhabas, for the uninitiated are roadside restaurants scattered all over the country, and their food is unique. Hell, the experience is unique and is one you must have. Small mud shacks, with only chaarpai’s (rope and wooden cots) and a wooden plank for a table, you’ll find them as you drive along the highway. They are usually patronized by truck drivers and budget travellers who are looking for food which reminds them of home. Growing up, the highlight of any road trip was a stopover at a dhaba for steaming hot, spicy dhaba style chicken curry, dal fry and tandoori roti’s fresh from the oven to mop it all up. These soul satisfying meals will always be etched on to my heart!
Even today, visiting home is accompanied by a trip to the local dhaba. Since I’ve moved to Bangalore, food from dhaba’s is something I miss a lot. And I’ve been trying very hard to replicate the dhaba style chicken curry I remember. It took some time, but this recipe comes pretty close to the real thing.
Unlike my other recipes, this one’s slightly time consuming because masala is ground and cooked till it’s color changes. This is characteristic of most Indian curries, and the slow cooking process is what lends dishes a unique flavor.
Is there a dish that’s close to your heart that you miss? I’d love to hear all about it on facebook or twitter
Dhaba Style Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken Skinless, cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces
For the marinade:
- 2 tablespoons Ginger garlic Paste
- 1 Lime Juice of
- 1 tablespoon Salt
For the curry:
- 1/4 cup Oil
- 4 Onions medium sized , chopped
- 10 cloves Garlic
- 1½ inches Ginger piece of
- 3 - 4 Chilies Green (Adjust the spice as required)
- 1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 Bay leaves
- ½ Cinnamon Stick
- 4 - 5 Cardamoms
- 8 - 10 Peppercorns
- 4 - 5 Cloves
- 4 Tomatoes medium sized, chopped
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Chili powder Red (optional; adjust the spice as required)
- 2 tablespoons Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala Powder
- Salt to taste
For tempering:
- 1 tablespoon Ghee heaping or clarified butter
- 2 Chilies Green (slit lengthwise)
- ½ inch Ginger piece , julienned
- Coriander for garnishing
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken pieces with ginger garlic paste, lime juice and salt. Cover and set aside for 30 mins.
- Grind onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies to a fine paste. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker or a large heavy bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds. Roughly pound all the whole spices (bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns and cloves) and add to the oil. Once they start to splutter, add the onion paste. Cook the onion paste on a low flame, stirring occasionally, till it is reduced to a golden, brown paste and the oil starts to surface.
- Add tomatoes, salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder (if using) and coriander powder. Cook till the tomatoes start melting, and almost form a paste.
- Add the chicken, garam masala and ½ cup water.
Pressure Cooker:
- At this stage, if you are using a pressure cooker, place the lid and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
- Switch off the flame and let the steam escape before opening the cooker.
- Simmer for 5-10 mins on high flame, if required, to thicken the curry (Chicken leaves a lot of water). I didn't need to do this.
Pan Method:
- If you are using a heavy bottomed pan, bring the curry to a boil, reduce the heat, cover with a lid and let it cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes.
- Uncover the pan, and cook for another 15-20 minutes till the water evaporates and the curry starts to thicken.
- Once the curry is ready, switch off the flame.
- In another small pan, heat ghee and add green chilies and ginger. Once they start to splutter and become slightly crisp, switch off the flame and mix the tadka (or tempering) into the curry. Top with coriander.
- Let the curry sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Tastes best with rotis or rice.
Notes
Nutrition
More Dhaba Style Recipes
Hi, how much water to be used as it is not stated but states about “water evaporates” in the method.
2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste, would it be 1 tablespoons ginger and 1 tablespoon garlic paste?
Yes thats correct – 1 tbsp ginger and 1 tbsp garlic paste. You need 1/2 cup water which is mentioned in step 5 of the recipe
Your recipes are great
Masha Allah.
Keep it up
Maaida Kausar
Thank you!
Just looking to clarify the marinade for the chicken….the ingredients list says lemon juice but the instructions say lime? Just want to get this right!
I have made many of your re Iowa and they are all fantastic ….thanks so much for sharing!
Sorry about that. You can use them interchangeably
Hi. Can I try this recipe with tvp instead of chicken. Any thoughts/ guidance. God bless.
Sorry but what is tvp?
This was so good. Thanks.
So happy you liked the recipe Saira! Thank you for leaving a comment
It turned out so good! Received a lot of compliments for it. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
What is the quantity of the oil to be used. It’s not mentioned in the recipe.
Hey Karishma, sorry about that! I’ve fixed it. Please use 4 tablespoons Oil
Thanks, the curry turned out super yumm.
Noted 1/4 cup oil in the receipe. Confused, would it be 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup?
Hey, its 1/4 cup oil
This recipe deserves 5 stars..Dhaba style curry does taste exactly like this..Thank you for the recipe 😘
Thanks so much Clarissa! So glad you enjoyed this recipe
Love love love this !! This is an amazing recipe. Please give it a try u will never go back !!
Thanks so much Dhara! So glad you enjoyed this recipe
Mind blowing… I cooked even better than hotel…. follow the recipe… it tastes amazing
Thanks so much Arpit! So glad you enjoyed this recipe
The easiest recipe every thatvturns to be super yummy and super tangy!!! A must must try!!
Thanks so much Sharal for trying this and leaving a message
This was absolutely awesome! 🍗
Loved finishing with the tadka; it enhanced the flavour quite a bit.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. Cheers! 😀
Thank you so so much Yashaswy! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Step by step.pic was required
With pictures would be even better
Made this last night. It’s delicious as it gets. Also, don’t forget the ghee+green chillie+ ginger at the end because it enhances the flavour exponentially. Also, adding just half cup of water made it more like a dry chicken, which was good too.
This is one of my favourites too! Really happy you enjoyed it Amrita
It was really good !! Super recipe!!
Easy and came out well.
Thank you so so much Vineet! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Amazing recipe.. turned out exactly the way it should.. enjoyed by my family 😃😊
Yay, thanks Anupama!
Amazing recipe! Awesome taste and highly recommended 😊👌🏽
Thanks Apurva!
They are very helpful your article. i really love this recipe. i will try it. Thanks for sharing your information.
I have just started to learn cooking and this recipe was so easy to follow, even for an amateur like me. It was easily some of the best chicken curry I’ve ever had. Everyone who ate it was so impressed ! Thank you for the recipe, Richa 🙂
Sos so glad you liked it Sarang! Thanks for leaving a message 🙂
Amazing recipe of Dhaba style chicken. I have always tried making this type of curry at home using multiple recipes sicne my hubby likes it a lot. However, nothing matches the authetntic curries made in Dhabas. I will definitely try this recipe and let you know how it turned out.
Very nice recipe
Thank you!
Hi, I loved your butter chicken recipe and can’t wait to try this! Just one question.. do we do the tempering at the end only when cooking in a pan or for pressure cooker too?
Hey Shiprah, you should add the tempering in the end, irrespective of whether you are using the pan or the pressure cooker
Thank you so much 🙂
thanks for sharing your delicious recipe, I really enjoyed your recipe story. I will try this at home.
Genuinely taste was best thanks to you…ur smile is also adorable 😘
thank you very much.. cooked my very own meal for the first time ever… delighted the way it turned out.. however I think I ended up adding a little too much of water..
Thanks! Glad you liked it
Greetings from north of Europe Finland! We(me and my twinsister) are indian food enthusiastics and this chicken recipe was very lovely indeed! We had it with potato and cauliflower curry(Aloo gobi masala) along with fresh rotis. The first time we made ‘chicken curry’ was about 23 years ago with the help of our friend from India. This recipe somehow reminded us about it. It had the same good elements. Thank you dear!
Thanks so much Arja! I’m so happy this brought back old memories and I really hope you try some more Indian recipes from the blog. I have another friend in Finland and he loves Indian food too 🙂 I hope to visit someday
Hi Guys.. Superb Blog..
I tried it first time due to availability of time and required things. It is amazing as I was marinating first time myself. Easy to cook and great taste
Thanks Rahul!
Hey can I use Chopped tomatoes (tin) instead of fresh.
Absolutely Sejal!
What a recipe! Great texture, flavour, fragrance. Totally satisfied my family with this dish.
So glad you and your family liked it Kaushik!
I want to Bhoono the chicken in masala then put water to cook..to me putting the marinated chicken straight in the curry is sounding raw chicken..
It won’t be raw by the time its cooked. The pressure cooker will do all the work. However, if you like you can bhuno the chicken in a little oil first.
Hi there, college student here! Big fan of your recipes! Thanks for helping me impress my girlfriend with my cooking skills! Love your recipes specially because then don’t really take much time to cook! And they always turn out to be so wonderfully awesome! 😀
You are so sweet Shubham! Thank you for following along, and I’m glad these take care of those hunger pangs.
The recipie is so easy.I prepared it in pressure cooker and the taste is really good.Thanks 😊
So glad you liked it Sarbani!
Hi I tried your recipe with exact instructions…. I added little chicken Everest masala and at the end to get the smoky favor I burned coal to get the fragrance of it. It turned out amazing. Thank you.
I love that you added smokiness to it. Sounds fantastic Saima!
Hi… I love making this recipe.. thanks so much…
Can I substitute mutton n will it still be Good??
Sure, but please increase the cooking time because mutton takes longer to cook.
Tried this recipe for dinner with the jeera rice. Wow! Thank you. It was delicious. A definite keeper.
Thanks so much Nell!
Made the Dhaba Chicken Curry with a couple of changes. I used my coffee grinder to grind the whole spices and added to the chicken marinade. Also topped the finished product with some saffron soaked in two ounces of heavy whipping cream to give it a rich texture. Absolutely delicious.
Your additions sound delicious! I love the subtle taste that fragrance adds. Glad you liked it!
Hi is it necessary to grind the onions? Or can we just use chopped onions?
Grinding the onions gives a smoother texture to the curry, but you can use chopped onions too Gagan. I hope you try this out!
Making it again today we loved the receipe. I used chopped onions both times came out excellent.
So glad you liked it Gagan!
I am a vegetarian but made this curry for my family and they loved it. I sautèd the chicken before adding it to the gravy. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thanks so much Puja. Coming from a vegetarian, thats a huge compliment!
Awesome !!!
I blend all whole gram spices except Bay leaves ,along with onion ginger chilli to paste .My kids like this very much .
Glad you and your kids like this dhaba style chicken curry Akila!
Awesome !!!
Instead of whole gram masala spices except Bay, remaining all I blend along with the onion paste it came out well for my kids
Thank you for the recipe!
Would you recommend green or black cardamoms for this recipe?
Black cardamoms work best Anshu, but green is okay too 🙂
Thank you so much! Love this recipe!
The time and effort is totally worth the wait as this chicken is so flavorful and delicious!
So glad you liked it Neeti!
so yummy recipe
Made it. And it was pretty good.
Would have been better if I had boiled the chicken first on its own and then cooked it as it was a mess trying to get the chicken cooked all the way.
Did you use a pressure cooker to cook it?
I have just finished cooking this Richard, crossing fingers hope everyone likes this.
I hope you liked it!
Did you use chicken breast or thighs? Looks very yummy. Can’t wait to make this.
Rutva I used the whole chicken cut into medium sized pieces. I hope you try it out!
Am making the chicken curry for Christmas brunch. Can’t wait to see how it will turn out.
Yaaay! Hope you like it 🙂
Loved it
Hey Amelle! So glad you liked it 🙂 The color difference could be because every house has different spices and masalas, or it could be because I like to brown my onions till they are a very dark brown.
PS: I did not get that rich deep dark color that’s seen in your pictures though, any idea why?
I just made this awesome chicken curry now and even though it took a bit of time, it was truly well worth the wait! I loved the aroma as it was cooking and it tastes amazing and slightly different from the curries I’ve had before, Will be coming back to this recipe again from now on. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying it out Sushma. I love it when readers come back and say they liked something. It really makes all the effort worthwhile 😀
I tried the Dhaba Style Chicken curry last night. My oh my, by far one of the best home-made chicken curries I’ve had. Got a big thumbs-up from the husband too 😀 I’m a beginner and your step-by-step recipe was so simple and easy to follow. Thanks for this great recipe!
Great photos, makes you wanna cook right away. Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I’ll try it soon.
Thanks Krish. Its a regular at home 🙂
Thanks Marissa
I love curry! This looks like a great comfort meal. Beautiful photos!
Well Presented and well explained.Great recipe for non veg lovers
Thanks Analida! I hope you and your family like it as much as we do 🙂
This recipe looks delicious. My family loves curry dishes. I am certainly trying yours.
You must try this out and I know you won’t be disappointed 😀
Yaaay I hope it does!
Awww so sweet. I hope she tries it out. My favorite place to eat back home is Karara Dhaba 😉
Thank you 🙂 I’m obviously a big dhaba fan as you can see 😛
Yay I hope you try it out!
Oooh! I’ve been looking for a great curry recipe for awhile now! Thanks for posting this!
Super Richa. Love the experience at the road side dhabas. You have explained it so beautifully. And pictures … OMG! 🙂
I will bookmark this for my mother, Richa.
We try keeping meat ot fish dishes new every weekend. Thanks for the recipe because who doesnt like dhaba food. Infacg My parents’ favrt restaurant is Honey the Dhaba in Kolkata 🙂
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This looks absolutely delicious! I am DROOLING! And you know what? I took out chicken drumsticks for dinner tonight. This just might make tonight’s menu!
It looks SO GOOD! I’ll give it a try, I’m always looking for recipes like this one and I’m never really convinced to do them. Thanks for this recipe!
Aww thanks Paige 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Harriet! You are going to love it 🙂
This looks AMAZING! And your description sounds delish! I love curry, and I would love to try this! Pinning!
This curry looks so perfect! I’m such a lover of curry dishes, and I could easily eat them all day every day. I’ve never tried a Dhaba curry before, but it sounds so delicious with all of those spices. Mmm, the photos are stunning too. I will definitely be trying this!
Thanks Indu 🙂 Your comments make my day!
Thank you Brian. I’m a big curry lover too 😀
This sounds right up my street, I love curries like this 🙂
What a hearty meal! It has awakened all my tastebuds! Love all the images, especially the second one. Have pinned it!
Yaaay awesome. I’ll post more stuff you can cook 😀
Thanks for stopping by Liz!
Finally! Something I can cook. Naice! Will try and let you know how it turns out.
This sounds soooo good. Totally craving it now. And I love your photographs!
Thanks Sreedhhar. I hope you give it a try.
Paradise served on the table.It will make any man hungry thrice.Lovely description,keep it up.
Thaaaanks darling
I have been lucky enough to dig into this, and its awesomelicious! Love love love it!!!!!