Home-Style Chicken Curry
Everyday chicken curry in an onion-tomato gravy.
Ingredients
- 700 g Chicken thighs
- 2 Onion
- 2 Tomato
- 1 Ginger
- 5 cloves Garlic
- ½ tsp Ground turmeric
- 1 tsp Red chili powder
- 1 tbsp Ground coriander
- 1 tsp Garam masala
- 3 tbsp Neutral oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- 240 g Basmati rice
- 3 tbsp Cilantro (optional)
Method
- Rinse the basmati rice until the water runs clear, then cook it in twice its volume of water, covered, until tender and the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
- Grate the onions on the coarse side of a box grater.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high. Add the grated onion and fry, stirring often, until deep golden — about 8 minutes.
- While the onion fries: grate the ginger and garlic to a paste.
- While the onion fries: grate the tomatoes (discard the skins).
- Stir in the ginger-garlic paste and cook 1 minute until the raw smell lifts.
- Add the grated tomato, turmeric, red chili powder, and coriander powder. Cook 4 minutes, stirring, until the tomato breaks down and the oil starts to separate.
- Add the chicken, salt, and enough water to barely cover. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is tender, about 22 minutes.
- While the curry simmers: chop the cilantro.
- Stir in the garam masala off heat.
- Scatter the cilantro over the curry and serve with the rice.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Home-Style Chicken Curry
Home-style chicken curry is the everyday Indian curry that turns up on weeknight tables rather than restaurant menus — chicken thighs simmered in a straightforward onion-tomato gravy built from pantry spices. There is no cream, no long list of specialty ingredients: just turmeric, red chilli, coriander, and garam masala carrying an aromatic base of ginger and garlic. It is exactly the kind of unfussy, comforting curry a family cooks on repeat, and it happens to be high in protein and low in carbs. Fresh cilantro at the end lifts it.
This version leans on a couple of home-kitchen shortcuts that also improve the result. Grating the onions and tomatoes instead of chopping them means they break down fast into a smooth, cohesive gravy, cutting the usual long fry time; the grated onion is cooked to deep golden first, because that colour is where the curry's savoury depth comes from. Waiting for the oil to separate from the tomato tells you the masala base is properly cooked and no longer raw, the moment the chicken and water go in to simmer until tender. Serve it with steamed rice, roti, or naan, with a wedge of lime and maybe some sliced onion alongside for an honest, satisfying dinner.
Home-Style Chicken Curry: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Home-Style Chicken Curry?
A serving has about 766 calories — 35.7g protein, 61.9g carbs, 41.4g fat, 5.1g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 35.7g of protein, roughly 19% of its calories.
Is Home-Style Chicken Curry gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Home-Style Chicken Curry has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does Home-Style Chicken Curry take to make?
About 40 minutes start to finish, but only around 24 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Home-Style Chicken Curry?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out cilantro — it's optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Home-Style Chicken Curry make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.