Chicken Changezi is a rustic, street-style dish inspired from the restaurants dotting the by-lanes of Old Delhi. This chicken curry is bold and spicy with lots of vibrant colour, featuring succulent pieces of bone-in chicken wrapped in a thick gravy. Perfectly paired with naan or tandoori roti, it is a delightful blend of history and taste!
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What is Chicken Changezi?
Chicken Changezi? Hmm. Why would a chicken curry be named after a fierce thirteenth century Mongolian warrior and ruler? The ruler in question being Changez Khan or Genghis Khan, as he is also known. I dug around a bit and found this interesting tidbit. In truth, the dish has nothing to do with Changez Khan! It is an invention of the venerable chefs of old Delhi who love serving up a fiery curry to their customers. Maybe the fieriness of the curry reminded them of the warrior? Who knows!
Personally, I love chicken changezi for its quirky name, bright color, and rich flavor and aroma. In its present avatar, it can be found in the many small restaurants dotting the alleys in Old Delhi, where you can see the crumbling remains of the glorious Mughal period to this day. This is a world unto itself, distinct from the new city and a paradise for food lovers. Do visit if you are in the area for the culinary experience of a lifetime!
More restaurant-style chicken curries: butter chicken, chicken patiala, chicken madras, and chicken tikka masala.
About the Recipe
Chicken Changezi is a slightly more involved recipe than other chicken curries. It is not a quick and easy recipe and takes a bit of time and effort. But it is a restaurant-style dish worth your time and effort, I can assure you of that!
Here's an overview of the cooking process so you don't get confused when you start making it:
1. The chicken is marinated in a few ingredients and cooked until it is 80% done.
2. A curry base is cooked separate from the chicken.
3. The two are brought together to make the final dish.
Ingredients
Note: I have shown the ingredients in 3 images since it's easier to follow them as they appear in the steps. Exact amounts are mentioned in the recipe card further down.
Instructions
Step 1 (Image 1 - Marination Ingredients):
- Put all the ingredients for marinating the chicken in a big bowl and mix well with a spoon. Add the chicken, making sure the chicken is well-coated in the marinade. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
- Dump the marinated chicken in a cooking pot and cook on medium heat until the chicken is 80% done. Keep it aside for now.
Step 2 (Image 2 - Curry Ingredients 1):
- Put the oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Fry for 5 minutes on medium heat, then add the cashews. Keep stirring until the onions start to change colour and wilt at the edges and the cashews are slightly browned.
Tip: Don't caramelize the onions fully or fry them to a deep reddish-brown colour now. They will cook further in the curry at a later stage.
- Once the onions and cashews cool down a bit, remove them from the oil and grind them in a blender with a little water. Keep this paste aside to use later. The oil will be used for making the curry in the next step.
Tip: Don't over-blend the onions and cashews. There should still be some texture left as chicken changezi is not supposed to have a smooth sauce.
Step 3 (Image 3 - Curry Ingredients 2):
- Put the pan with the remaining oil (that you fried the onions in) on medium heat again and add the whole spices. Allow them to sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, powdered spices and salt. Fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the onion-cashew paste you had prepared earlier in step 2. Stir continuously on medium heat until the masala is glossy and oil floats to the top.
- Now, add the tomato puree and yogurt and stir until the masala again becomes glossy and the oil separates.
- Finally, add the cooked chicken to the pan along with 1 cup water and cook until the chicken is fully tender. Chicken Changezi is ready to be served now!
Top Tips
Chicken Changezi has a thick, textured gravy that's both vibrant and edgy. If you don't want a watered-down version of it, make a note of these top three tips:
1. Cook the dish in a flat pan. This mimics the large tawa (flat griddle) used by the chefs in restaurants to cook chicken changezi. This is one recipe that fails to deliver when cooked in a pressure cooker, so keep your instant pots tucked away!
2. Also, don't cover the pan you use because we do not want to create any steam for dum cooking. There is no low and slow cooking happening here.
3. Try not to add any water in the initial stages of the cooking. One cup is added right in the last step to fully cook the chicken, but before that, it is best avoided.
Serving Suggestions
Since chicken changezi has a thick curry, serve it with some fluffy naan or tandoori roti. You can serve it with rice too if you want. It tastes great with both.
More Chicken Curries
Best Side Dishes
- Bombay Potatoes - Crispy baby potatoes with soft insides.
- Cumin Rice - Basmati rice flavored with cumin and other whole spices.
- Maash Dal - Split and skinned black gram lentils with a warm, nutty taste.
- Dahi Baingan - Lightly fried eggplant, onions, garlic, and cilantro in cold yogurt.
These are just a few possibilities. Find a lot more ideas for what to serve with chicken curry in this post: 20+ Best Side Dishes for Chicken Curry.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Changezi
Equipment
- cooking pot for chicken
- large pan for the curry
Ingredients
Marination Ingredients
- 2.4 lbs. chicken bone-in
- ¼ cup cooking oil neutral
- 3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder Kashmiri chilli
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp yogurt
Curry Ingredients-1 (Onion-Cashew Paste)
- ½ cup cooking oil neutral
- 14 oz red onions 3 medium-sized, sliced
- 12 cashews
Curry Ingredients-2
- ½ tsp peppercorns
- 5 cloves
- 2 black cardamom
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder Kashmiri red chilli
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 2 tsp yogurt whisked
Instructions
Marinate and cook the chicken
- Put all the ingredients for marinating the chicken in a big bowl and mix well with a spoon. Add the chicken, making sure the chicken is well-coated in the marinade. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
- Put the marinated chicken in a cooking pot and cook on medium heat until the chicken is 80% done. Keep it aside for now.
Make the onion-cashew paste
- Put the oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Fry for 5 minutes on medium heat, then add the cashews. Keep stirring until the onions start to change colour and wilt at the edges and the cashews are slightly browned. Take care not to caramelize the onions fully or fry them to a deep reddish-brown colour now.
- Once the onions and cashews cool down a bit, remove them from the oil and grind them in a blender with a little water, but don't over-blend. Keep this paste aside to use later. The oil will be used for making the curry in the next step.
Make the curry
- Put the pan with the remaining oil (that you fried the onions in) on medium heat again and add the whole spices. Allow them to sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, powdered spices and salt. Fry for 5 minutes, adding a small splash of water just to keep the masala from sticking to the pan.
- Add the onion-cashew paste you had prepared earlier. Stir continuously on medium heat until the masala is glossy and oil floats to the top (about 12-15 minutes).
- Add the tomato puree and yogurt and stir until the masala again becomes glossy and the oil separates (10 minutes).
Put the chicken in the curry
- Finally, add the cooked chicken to the pan along with 1 cup water and cook until the chicken is fully tender.
Notes
- Cook the dish in a large, flat pan. This mimics the large tawa (flat griddle) used by the chefs in restaurants to cook chicken changezi.
- Don't cover the pan you use because we do not want to create any steam for dum cooking.
- Try not to add any water in the initial stages of the cooking. One cup is added right in the last step to fully cook the chicken, but before that, it is best avoided.
- You can prepare your own ginger-garlic paste very easily. Put equal quantities of peeled ginger and garlic in a blender along with a few tablespoons of water and whiz to get a smooth paste. Use as required by the recipe and store the rest in a sealed glass bottle in the fridge.
- You can also make your own tomato puree for this recipe. Put 2 medium-sized red and ripe tomatoes in a blender and bend to get a smooth puree. No need to add any water.
Thanks for coming! Let me know what you think: