Boneless Chicken Handi Recipe

Chicken handi is a simple and easy but incredibly delicious chicken curry made with boneless chicken and a few common ingredients. It has a thick and flavorful sauce that you can mop up with some warm pita or naan bread. You can also go the gluten-free route by pairing it with plain Basmati rice. The perfect chicken dinner for busy weeknights!

Another scrumptious chicken curry recipe is this white chicken karahi. It's got a slightly spicy but very smooth and creamy sauce that's perfect with naan.

There's nothing more satisfying than a well-made chicken curry with warm bread to soak up the sauce. And if it's as effortless as this boneless chicken handi, bingo! It has the same rich taste as butter chicken but with a quarter of the effort that goes into making that famous but involved dish.

Traditionally, chicken handi is cooked in a clay pot over a slow fire. It's awesome if you can get hold of a clay pot, seal it with dough, and let the meat simmer away till tender and juicy. Cooked this way, the dish absorbs all the earthy aroma of the clay pot itself (mitti ki handi) and tastes like... heaven! However, I do know that this is not a practical way to cook and as busy as we all are, there's simply no time for such elaborate shenanigans.

So, I've adapted this recipe for the busy home cook who still looks forward to putting a delicious but fuss-free dinner on the table. In other words, people like you and me. I cook it in a stainless steel karahi or wok and trust me, it turns out great!

🥘 Ingredients

Note: exact amounts are mentioned in the recipe card further down.

Ingredients Notes

• Instead of boneless chicken breast, you can also use boneless chicken thigh, cut down into bite-sized pieces.
• Store-bought tomato paste works best because it is made with very red tomatoes and quite smooth. However, if you don't have it, you can make a puree of two tomatoes and use that instead. It will not give the same rich color to the curry though.
• The powdered spices are readily available in any supermarket - coriander, red chilli, turmeric, cumin, and white pepper.
• Soak the cashews in water for 30 minutes so that they become soft and easy to grind into a paste along with the yogurt.

🔪 Instructions

Time needed: 40 minutes

How to make boneless chicken handi

Preparation

• Puree the onions in a blender and set aside in a bowl.
• Put the yogurt in the blender and add the cashews. Whiz until you get a smooth white paste.

Cooking

1. Cook the pureed onions, ginger and garlic

• Heat the oil in a wok or karahi and add the pureed onions and the ginger-garlic paste.
• Cover the wok and cook down this masala on low-medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring in between to make sure it doesn't stick to the wok.
• As the water evaporates, the masala will soon reduce and become thick.

2. Add the chicken and all the powdered spices and salt

• Stir well to mix the chicken and spices with the onion masala and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.
• Add a splash of water if the masala becomes too thick, but not too much.
• Keep stirring in between so that the masala doesn't stick to the bottom. After 10 minutes, the oil will separate and the masala will become shiny.

3. Add the tomato paste, yogurt-cashew paste and slit green chillies

• Fry for 5 minutes on high heat, then lower the heat and add ½ cup water. Mix well and and cover the wok. Allow the chicken to cook for 10 minutes more.
• Remove the lid and garnish the curry with some cilantro if you want to. It is now ready to be served with warm bread or rice.

💭 Top tips

• The secret to a great tasting curry lies in how patiently you are able to cook down the masala. If it smells and looks 'raw', the curry is not going to taste very good. A sure sign that the curry is done is when the masala turns shiny and the oil separates and floats on the top. It will also lose its sharp and pungent smell once it's cooked properly. This is, in fact, the most important tip to keep in mind while cooking Indian curries and if you remember this one thing, you will never go wrong.
• The chicken in Indian curries is supposed to be quite tender. If you're wondering why you need to cook boneless chicken for so long, it's because the chicken pieces should be very soft and yield immediately when you bite into them.

🥗 Side dishes

There are so many side dishes possible with chicken handi! You will of course need some kind of bread or rice, but you can also pair it with any simple vegetarian side like Bombay potatoes.

My favorite bread with chicken is this whole wheat naan. It tastes really good with chicken curries, so do make it if you have the time. Another staple is rice, and again, plain steamed Basmati rice works quite well. If you want to get a little fancy, however, try this cumin rice. And if brown rice is what you prefer, here's a recipe for brown rice.

For a complete list of side dishes to go with chicken curries like this one, here's a post that you might want to browse through. It has over 20 suggestions for what to serve with chicken curry. Check it out for a few new ideas that you may not have thought of before!

More chicken curries

• Indian pepper chicken - also called kali mirch chicken, this is a simple weeknight chicken recipe with only 7 ingredients.
• Chicken shashlik - an Indo-Chinese recipe for those times when you are craving something hot, sweet and spicy.
• Chicken and mushroom curry - bone-in chicken simmered in a smooth cashew sauce and topped with fried button mushrooms. 
• Achari chicken - a bold and spicy chicken curry made in Indian pickling spices.