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Bottle Masala Chicken Curry

Bottle Masala Chicken Curry is a modern British recipe a classic British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curry of chicken flavoured with Mumbai bottle masala. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Bottle Masala Chicken Curry.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

30 minutes

Serves:

2

Rating:

Tags : CurryBIR CurriesSpice RecipesChicken RecipesBritish Recipes

This is a British Indian Restaurant curry that almost no-one has heard of. It's origins are in Mumbai and it's core is a spice blend called Bottle Masala. There really is no substitute here and I give a recipe for bottle masala on this site, along with a few recipes making use of it. Note that if you don't want to make your own home-made tomato puree, take commercial tomato paste (about 2 tbsp and dilute down to the consistency of single cream with water).

Ingredients:

For the spice mix:
2 tbsp bottle masala
1/2 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1/2 tsp sea salt
pinch of asafoetida (as my version of bottle masala does not contain it already)

For the curry:
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 hot green finger chilies (Cut in half lengthwise then into 3cm lengths)
100ml Home-made tomato puree
400ml base curry sauce or Indian restaurant curry base
350g pre-cooked chicken
1/2 tsp jaggery or brown sugar
5-6 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method:

Mis all the ingredients for the spice mix and set aside. Place the curry base to a pan and heat up (you want this hot when you add it to the curry).

Place your frying pan (don't use non-stick) or wok briefly over medium heat. Add the oil and when it starts to shimmer add the ginger-garlic paste and green chilies. Cook, stirring constantly, until the ginger-garlic paste stops sputtering.

Reduce the heat down to medium low and add scatter over spice mix. Cook, stirring constantly for around 30 seconds. If it starts to darken lift the pan off the heat. You want the spice mix to bubble in the oil; a process that's called 'blooming' the spices. Just be careful, as you don't want to do is burn the spices as the curry will become bitter and you'll have to start all lover again.

Increase the heat to medium high then add the home-made tomato puree. Stir to combine and cook until little bubbles start to form. This takes around 30 seconds to one minute. This will temper the spices so you don't have to worry about them burning any more.

Increase the heat to high (this is important as you want the base curry sauce to caramelize). Add 100ml of the base curry sauce. Cook, stirring, until bubbles form (around 30 seconds). Watch the edges of the pan. The curry can stick here, which is what you want, just scrape it back into the curry. But don't let it burnin.

Add the 200ml of the remaining curry base and stir briefly. Let it cook/fry until the bubbles form again (about 1-2 minutes).

Now add the remainder of the curry base and let cook until the bubbles form (a minute or two).

Taste the curry at this point if it's well balanced, then great. If it's a little tart add the jaggery or brown sugar to sweeten.

Reduce the heat to low and add the pre-cooked chicken. Stir to combine. Let the curry simmer for about 5 minutes. If it gets too thick add a bit more curry base. Add the halved cherry tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are just warmed through.

Serve with basmati rice or your favourite Indian flatbread (apas handbreads would be appropriate).