Dahi Chicken | Curd Chicken | Yogurt Marinated Chicken Curry, a delicious dish that requires minimal effort and delivers scrumptious results!
Don’t you just love it when it’s easy to cook up a tasty meal without having to slog it out in the kitchen? Indian food can be daunting, given its long list of ingredients and a lot of sautéing. But that’s the trade-off with authentic Indian dishes. Most North Indian dishes need these lengthy procedures but the resultant dish is well worth the effort!
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HOW TO MAKE DAHI CHICKEN?
Today I’m sharing a rather simple dish called dahi chicken | chicken dahiwala | dahi wala murgh. What I like about this dahi chicken recipe, is that you simply marinate the chicken with dahi (yogurt) and spices, and cook it after sauteing some onions and ginger garlic. That’s all! No tomatoes, no cream nor any nuts!
The sour yogurt balances the spices, giving this curry a little tang and heat with succulent, fall of the bone chicken! Oh so yum!
Dahi chicken is a pretty healthy Indian chicken curry, as it is devoid of any of the traditional, rich and creamy ingredients. You can further reduce the amount of oil and butter in this recipe, or use desi ghee instead.
There are so many Indian chicken recipes that require the chicken to be marinated in curds, such as the popular butter chicken, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, dahi lasooni chicken, methi chicken, chicken korma, and so many more. Curd/yogurt or buttermilk makes the chicken tender and succulent. The longer it is left to marinate the better the results. I always leave it overnight in the refrigerator, never had a problem of dry and rubbery chicken.
We enjoyed this simple chicken curry recipe with yogurt with some lachha paratha (crispy, flaky, layered unleavened flatbread)! You could also add some water to thin out the curry and enjoy it with rice. If you haven’t tried this already, I’m sure you will love it and will definitely be making it more often! Have unexpected guests coming over? This simple chicken curry recipe with yogurt is the perfect dish for any occasion!
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE DAHI CHICKEN CURRY | INDIAN YOGURT CHICKEN | DAHI WALA CHICKEN
1.In a sufficiently large bowl, add yogurt, turmeric, cumin, coriander, red chilli, Kashmiri red chilli, and garam masala powders. Also add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to season. Add chicken pieces, mix well, leave it to marinate for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight (the longer the better).
2.Heat oil + butter in a heavy-bottomed pot, add in cloves, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf, sauté for few seconds.
3.Add in the sliced onions, sauté until golden brown.
4.Add in the ginger garlic paste, sauté until aromatic.
5.Add in the chicken along with the marinade.
6.Mix well, stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally in between. Once you see the oil floating on top, the masala is well cooked.
7.The chicken should have cooked in its own juices and the water from the yogurt. If it’s too thick add little lukewarm water, if you prefer a thicker gravy, continue to cook uncovered until the moisture dries up. Add finely chopped cilantro, mix well and switch off the heat. Serve hot with steamed rice/jeera rice or any other flatbread.
HOW TO MAKE CURD CHICKEN?
Dahi Chicken | Yogurt Marinated Chicken Curry
Ingredients
Measuring cup used, 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml
- 1.65 lbs / 750 grams chicken, preferably bone-in
For the marinade
- 1 & 1/2 cup dahi/yogurt
- 1 tsp red chilli powder/cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder/paprika
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp black pepper powder
- 3/4 tsp Salt or to taste
For the curry
- 2 to 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp oil. or use 3-4 tbsp oil and skip the butter
- Whole spices (3-4 cloves, 1 Bay leaf, 1-inch cinnamon, 3-4 green cardamom, 4-5 peppercorns)
- 2 cups sliced onions
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
Instructions
- In a sufficiently large bowl, add yogurt, turmeric, cumin-coriander, red chilli, Kashmiri red chilli, and garam masala powders. Also add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to season. Add chicken pieces, mix well, leave it to marinate for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight (the longer the better).
- Heat oil + butter in a heavy-bottomed pot, add in cloves, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf, sauté for few seconds.
- Add in the sliced onions, sauté until golden brown. You can also add some slit green chillies, for more heat, at this stage.
- Add in the ginger garlic paste, sauté until aromatic.
- Add in the chicken along with the marinade.
- Mix well, stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally in between. Once you see the oil floating on top, the masala is well cooked.
- The chicken should have cooked in its own juices and the water from the yogurt. If it's too thick add little lukewarm water, if you prefer a thicker gravy, continue to cook uncovered until the moisture dries up. Add finely chopped cilantro, mix well and switch off the heat. Serve hot with steamed rice/jeera rice or any other flatbread.
I would love to hear from you, please feel free to share your feedback with photos and suggestions to me at aromaticessence77@gmail.com
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Have a great week ahead!!
Regards,
Freda
Simple and delicious
Thank you, Mubeena 🙂
Easy and yum
Glad you enjoyed it, Tee 😊
hi my sauce keeps separating. what am i doing wrong?
Hi Lisa! The heat needs to be low when you add the yogurt. Also, make sure that it’s not cold.
Turned out delicious. I used Greek yogurt vanilla flavor which added some extra sweetness which I enjoy.
Glad you enjoyed it, Teza 🙂
Hi! Found your site when I was looking for dahi chicken. Great site. I can see me making many recipes from here. Thanks!
Quick question – what is the roti in the background in your dahi chicken photo? I’d love to make that too, but need the name before I google recipes. Thanks again.
Hi Anita! Thank you! That’s lachcha paratha 😊
Hi Freda,
After posting my comments I realised my error. Please read FLESH, not FLASH. Thank you.
No worries, Chetan 🙂
I cooked a fish curry using your Goan Shark Ambotik curry recipe last night. Shark fish flash is not available where we live and I did not use any white fish as it goes very soft in a curry. My son and I like salmon and river fish called Trout. This time I used salmon. As I could not get any Kashmiri whole chillies I used Kashmiri chilly powder. After finishing our meal my son asked how could I cook such deliciously tasting fish curry? My reply was that it was not me. It was Freda’s recipe. The colour, taste and flavour were unbelievable. Thank you Freda. Now could I have a good recipe for lamb curry, please!
Hi Chetan! Glad you tried the curry and that your son loved it 🙂 Salmon sounds great in this curry! Appreciate your feedback!
I have two lamb recipes, one for Rajasthani Laal maas- https://aromaticessence.co/rajasthan-laal-maas-red-mutton-lamb-curry/
And this one is a Goan style with green masala- https://aromaticessence.co/goan-green-lamb-chop-curry/
I am going to follow this recipe again this afternoon as the attempt was very successful. Freda, do you have a good recipe for fish curry? We both, my son and myself are good fish eaters.
Hi Chetan! Glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing your feedback:) I have a few, you can try either of these.
https://aromaticessence.co/ambotik-hot-and-tangy-goan-fish-curry/
https://aromaticessence.co/goan-fish-jeerem-meerem-cumin-pepper-curry/
Or this prawn curry which is a favorite, swap the prawns with a firm white fish, https://aromaticessence.co/goan-prawn-caldine/
Hi Freda,
Thank you very much for excellent simple recipe unlike many other which have been found too demading and rtather complcated asking to buy this and that. I found your recipe very easy to follow and I am going to use this recipe tonight for four meals.
Hi Chetan! I’m glad you found the recipe easy and simple. Please do share your feedback on how it turned out 🙂
I tried this recipe. Easy method and it was a hit on the very first try, everyone loved it. Thanks.
That’s great, Zenobia! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂
Everybody in my family loves it. I prepare it almost in the same way as described by you… 🙂
That’s great! Love this dish for it’s simplicity 🙂
Dahi chicken looks so inviting Freda. Loved the colour.
Thanks di 🙂
Nice looking dish. I am sure it is yummy
Thanks so much 🙂
Oh wow Freda, that chicken and bread looks exquisitely tasty!
Thanks Kathryn 🙂
Looks delicious..and an easy recipe..Perfect with some hot rotis
Thanks dear! Yup 🙂
I love this! Printing recipe and Pinning! Thanks!
Thanks a lot Laura 🙂
Freda,
The dahi chicken has me drooling here. I like recipes like these where once the chicken is marinated and yummy, the curry is a snap to put together.
Your photos are amazing , as usual!
So true, Sandhya! I mostly marinate and leave it overnight! Next day there’s really nothing much to it 🙂 Thanks so much!
Wow Freda! Love this curry, I’ve made something similar, but you’ve definitely perfected it, and look at all those amazing pictures! Love it. By the way, I was wondering why your pictures don’t show up on the Reader? I think I’ve noticed it a couple of times. Your pictures and styling definitely need to be shown to the world 🙂
Thanks so much Loretta! You are always so kind! I have been noticing that problem ever since I shifted to a self-hosted site, sometimes it shows, sometimes it doesn’t and well sometimes the post doesn’t show at all. Nothing much I can do there, as wordpress.org is a separate platform.
I’m sure it will sort itself out in time, Freda. Many of my blogger friends have switched to a self-hosted site, I guess I’m the only one left in the dark ages 🙂
This looks so good! I love the spices you’ve added. Hope to try it soon. 🙂
Thanks a lot Ronit 🙂
This looks so yummy, I too make a dahi chicken with green chutney masala and lots of black pepper 😉
Thanks Parinaaz!!Quite similar to chicken cafreal I guess?? But I would have to replace the tamarind with dahi , sounds great!
This chicken looks so good. I’ve made many yogurt-marinated Indian dishes, but there are so many more out there to try! Making this soon!
Thanks Chef Mimi 🙂
That looks delicious and healthy! I will try this. I am looking forward to making your crazy chocolate cupcake without eggs, butter, or milk. My mom who was raised during the depression had a similar recipe for a cake made with potatoes. I will print it next week. I have never made it myself but I remember my mom making it and it was delicous.
Thanks so much! I’m sure you will like it! With potatoes sounds great, looking forward to your post 🙂
Good morning Freda,
I just posted that Tater Cake recipe. I hope you try it. It is very simple and it sounds very rich.