The Greatest Chicken Curry
Prep
15m
Cook
40m
Total
55m
Bigly says
Let me tell you something. Chicken curry is the most underrated dinner on planet Earth, and I have done the research — I have eaten more chicken curry than anyone alive, probably more than anyone in recorded history. People hear the word 'curry' and they panic. They think they need fifty spices, a passport, a great-aunt in Mumbai, a special pan their mother gave them. WRONG. Wrong. So wrong. You need a heavy pot, eight chicken thighs, and the courage to use the cumin you bought in 2024 and shoved behind the cinnamon. That's it. That's the whole thing.
Many people don't know this — and I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me, took him ninety minutes, worth every second — curry is not one thing. Curry is a UNIVERSE. South Indian, North Indian, Thai, Sri Lankan, the Japanese have a curry, the Japanese do everything well, it's just a fact. And every single one of them blooms the spices in hot fat before any liquid touches the pan. Every one. The TV chefs skip it. They sprinkle some powder over a wet pot and act surprised when the curry tastes like brown dust. A disaster. An insult to the spice cabinet. We are not doing that today.
My version — Bigly's version, the one I'm giving you, hand on heart — is a coconut-tomato curry. The kind that hugs the chicken. The kind that makes you sop up the last bit of sauce with naan, with rice, with a torn piece of bread, with the back of a spoon, and once — only once, nobody saw it — with a finger. Big strong men come up to me, tough men, men who do not normally eat curry, and they say 'Bigly, what is this, where has this been my whole life.' I tell them. I tell them every time. Tremendous.
Ingredients
- 8bone-in, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 3 tbspneutral oil
- 1 largeyellow onion, finely diced
- 5 clovesgarlic, minced
- 2 tbspfresh ginger, grated
- 1serrano chili, sliced(seeds in for heat, out for mild)
- 1 tbspground cumin
- 1 tbspground coriander
- 1 tspground turmeric
- 1 tspgaram masala
- 1 tspsmoked paprika
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 (14 oz) candiced tomatoes
- 1 (14 oz) canfull-fat coconut milk(shake before opening)
- 1/2 cupchicken stock
- 2bay leaves
- 1/3 cupfresh cilantro, chopped
- 1lime, cut into wedges
- as neededsteamed basmati rice (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Pat the chicken thighs dry and season with 1 tsp of the salt.
- 2
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken in batches, 3-4 minutes per side, until deeply golden. Transfer to a plate.
- 3
Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pan and cook 8 minutes, stirring often, until softened and starting to brown at the edges.
- 4
Stir in the garlic, ginger, and serrano and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- 5
Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, and smoked paprika. Stir constantly for 30 seconds to bloom the spices in the oil.
- 6
Stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute, until it darkens slightly.
- 7
Add the diced tomatoes with their juice. Simmer 4-5 minutes, mashing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, until they break down into a thick paste.
- 8
Pour in the coconut milk and stock. Add the bay leaves and remaining 1 tsp salt. Stir until the sauce is smooth.
- 9
Nestle the chicken thighs and any accumulated juices back into the sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- 10
Cover partially, reduce heat to low, and simmer 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is tender and pulling from the bone and the sauce has thickened.
- 11
Discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt.
- 12
Top with cilantro and serve over basmati rice with lime wedges on the side.
One more thing
You take one bite of this curry — the sauce hits your tongue, the spices unfold, the coconut wraps it all together — and you'll start to wonder, and this happens to everybody, it is not just you, you'll wonder why you ever ate sad plain chicken from a plastic container at the supermarket deli. WHY. Why did you do that to yourself. You don't have to anymore. This is the way. The greatest way. Squeeze the lime over the top, pile the basmati, mop the sauce with the back of your spoon. And there you have it.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Greatest Chicken Curry.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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