Authentic Achari Chicken recipe with easy spice mix. This north Indian curry tastes so ethereal and flavorful and you can prepare it in one pot in 45 minutes. It is so good to eat with naan or rice.
Achari Chicken is a North Indian / Pakistani Chicken tomato and onion-based curry spiced with a pickling spice mix also called "Achari Masala.
The use of yogurt and aromatic pickling spices like mustard, fenugreek, fennel, and nigella gives it a unique taste and makes it stand out in other chicken curry recipes. It is also called achari murgh in Punjabi.
What makes the recipe unique?
This recipe unlike most recipes has authentic spice filled chilies added to the curry. The sweet and tangy spice-filled chilies are such a pleasure to enjoy with Achari chicken curry.
Moreover, the spice mix when cooked in mustard oil will send you to the fields of Punjab with the same rustic feel and wholesome food.
Make it in a wok and you’d love that extra bhuna Karahi flavor.
Ingredients
I have divided the ingredients in two images, one is of achari masala that can be made in advance and doubled or tripled if you make this curry often. The second image has ingredients for chicken that you'd need at the time of cooking.
The ingredients of achari masala or spice mix are dried fenugreek leaves, Kashmiri red chilies, chili flakes, salt, coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds.
Fenugreek leaves and fennel seeds are slightly uncommon ingredients in this list. You can easily get these in Indian stores. I recommend not skipping these as they are essential for the achari flavour.
Apart from these mustard seeds, nigella seeds, and fenugreek, are also added to the achari spice mix but we willll add those directly to the curry.
Because you don't crush these seeds and we use the same masala to fill in the large green chilies. And these seeds taste somewhat bitter in chilies.
If skipping the chili step then you add these seeds to the achari spice mix directly.
The ingredients to make achari chicken are
- Oil: Authentically mustard oil is used, but any neutral vegetable oil or grape seed oil will do.
- Chicken: Bone-in chicken pieces or chicken drumsticks taste great in the curry as bones release natural juices to enhance the taste. For the boneless chicken version use chicken thigh pieces.
- Onion: Use purple or pink onion.
- Tomato: I used 3 fresh tomatoes and simply blended them to make the smooth puree.
- Ginger, garlic, chili: I prefer minced, the paste is fine too.
- Big chilies: I used the big dark green chilies which are less spicy. Look for something similar. If eating chilies is not your thing, skip this step altogether.
- Lemon juice: I used lemon juice to mix in the masala for chilies, authentically, amchor powder (raw mango powder) is used.
- Yogurt: I used Indian slightly sour yogurt, if using Greek yogurt use less.
- Brown sugar: This ingredient adds the fermented sweetness of a pickle to the curry. Substitute this with jaggery powder. You can skip this too.
- Seeds: I used mustard, nigella, and fenugreek. You skip any of these seeds if not available.
How to make it?
To make achari chicken start by making the spice mix.
- Roast coriander, cumin, fennel, and pepper in a pan for a minute until fragrant. Keep stirring. (Roasting brings out the flavor and dries the spices making them easy to crush.)
- Transfer the roasted spices to a motor (alternately, you can use a spice grinder too.) Add the remaining spices chili flakes, Kashmiri chili, salt, and fenugreek leaves. Crush them and transfer them to a jar, achari masala is ready.
- In a pan fry the minced garlic in the oil, then add mustard, nigella, and fenugreek seeds. Let it sizzle then add minced green chili, ginger, and chopped onions.
- Continue to saute for 5 minutes until the onions are slightly golden. Then add the chicken and half of the spice mix. Continue to fry until the chicken changes its color.
- Now add tomato puree and mix well. Cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes until the chicken is tender.
- Meanwhile, make a slit in the chilies and remove the seeds. Mix lemon juice in the remaining spice mix and fill achari masala in the chilies. (Wear gloves while handling the chilies.) Set aside.
- When the chicken is tender add whipped yogurt, and mix it well. Cover and cook on low heat for a few minutes until a layer of oil separates on the top.
- Now place the filled chilies on top without mixing. Cover the pot and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then switch off the heat. Let the chilies continue to soften in steam until served in a dish.
- Serve with rice, roti or naan and pair with a fresh salad like kachumbar.
Expert Tips
This chicken surry stays good in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can freeze the leftover for a month easily.
Use less spicy large chilies to fill the Achari masala and let them steam well to soften before serving. This help to reduce the heat of chilies.
If you love to make Achari chicken often, consider doubling or tripling the spice mix and storing extra spice mix in the fridge to be used later.
Serve the chicken with plain basmati rice or naan for the best taste.
You can make this curry 1 day ahead in planning for a gathering or dawat.
FAQ
Achar means pickle. When Indian pickling spice which is a blend of mustard, fenugreek, fennel, nigella, cumin, and coriander seeds is used to flavor any curry veg or nonveg curry the food is called achari like achari aloo, achari bhindi, achari gosht.
This recipe can be doubled or tripled easily. Try to use a wide pot that provides enough cooking surface. Cooking time will increase so look for visual signs.
Yes! If eating chilies is not your thing, skip the chili step altogether and add extra spice mix in the curry as per heat preference.
If you have mustard oil-based mango or mixed Indian pickle (AKA Tel ka achar), you can add 1-2 spoons of it to the curry. This is particularly useful if you do not have a lot of ingredients like fennel, mustard, and nigella.
Hungry for chicken curries? Try these!
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📖 Recipe
Achari Chicken
Ingredients
Achari Masala
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, sauf
- 5 black pepper
- ½ tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves, sukhi meethi
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili , or paprika
- ½-1 teaspoon red chili flakes, or red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt, more to taste
For Achari Chicken
- ⅓ cup oil, preferably mustard oil , smoke to remove pungent smell.
- ½ teaspoon mustard seed, kali rai
- ¼ teaspoon nigella seeds, kalonji
- ⅛ teaspoon fenugreek seeds, methi dana
- ½ tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- ½ tablespoon green chili paste
- ¾ cup chopped onion
- ½ kg skinless chicken
- 3 medium tomato, blended in a process to make puree
- 5 big green chilies, less spicy variety
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ cup yogurt, whipped until smooth
- Ginger slices and Cilantro, to garnish
Instructions
For Achari Masala
- Roast coriander, cumin, fennel, and pepper in a pan for a minute until fragrant. Keep stirring.
- Transfer the roasted spices to a motor (alternately, you can use a food processor too.) Add the remaining spices chili flakes, Kashmiri chili, salt, and fenugreek leaves. Crush them and transfer them to a jar, achari masala is ready.
For Achari Chicken
- In a pan fry the ginger garlic paste in the oil, then add mustard, nigella, and fenugreek seeds. Let it sizzle then add green chili paste and chopped onions.
- Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the onions are slightly golden. Then add the chicken and half of the spice mix. Continue to fry until the chicken changes its color.
- Now add tomato puree and mix well. Cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes until the chicken is tender.
For Filling Chilies
- Meanwhile, make a slit in the big chilies and remove the seeds. Mix lemon juice in the remaining spice mix and fill in the chilies. (Wear gloves while handling the chilies.) Set aside.
- When the chicken is tender add whipped yogurt, mix it well. Cover and cook on low heat for a few minutes until a layer of oil separates on the top.
- Now place the filled chilies on top without mixing. Cover the pot and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then switch off the heat. Let the chilies continue to soften in steam until served.
Notes
- Oil: Authentically mustard oil is used, but any neutral oil or grape seed oil will do.
- Chicken: Bone-in chicken taste great and bone release natural juices to enhance the taste. For the boneless version use chicken thigh pieces.
- Big chilies: I used the bigger sized dark green chilies which are less spicy. Look for something similar. If eating chilies is not your thing, skip this step altogether.
- Lemon juice: I used lemon juice to mix in the masala for chilies, authentically, amchor powder (raw mango powder) is used.
- Yogurt: I used Indian slightly sour yogurt, if using Greek yogurt use less.
- Brown sugar: This ingredient adds the fermented sweetness of a pickle to the curry. Substitute this with jaggery powder. You can skip this too.
- Seeds: I used mustard, nigella, and fenugreek. You skip any of these seeds if not available.
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