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British Indian Restaurant Style Chicken Dopiaza

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chicken dopiaza curry

You’ve got to try this chicken dopiaza recipe!

This Chicken Dopiaza Recipe will get you restaurant quality results!

You are going to love this chicken dopiaza because it is the same if not much better than any takeaway.

Chicken dopiaza  is one of the most requested curries at Indian restaurants. It is so good. Equally as popular is lamb dopiaza and I have a recipe for it too right here.

 

What makes these curries so good is the slow cooked onion sauce.

You will want to check out my recipe. Get that easy preparation recipe right and your chicken dopiaza will be better than any takeaway.

The onion sauce is slowly cooked in a low oven for up to ten hours. The longer the better. This slow and low cooking makes the onions sweet and very tasty.

In this chicken dopiaza recipe I added the onion sauce just as it was when I took it out of the oven. In the lamb do piazza curry version, I blended the onion sauce. Both are good but the texture and even the flavour is quite different.

I recommend trying both, especially if you are serving lamb and chicken do piazza curries at the same time. They will taste quite different but will have that unmistakable dopiaza flavour.

Do I actually have to cook the onions for 10 hours?

No. There is a ‘second best’ which is almost as good and still much better than you will get at most restaurant. Simply fry some sliced onions in a little butter or oil over low heat for about half an hour. 

When the onion is soft and golden brown in colour, it’s ready to use. 

Preparing Ahead

Curry Sauce
I have written a large and small version of my curry sauce recipe which you will  to make before cooking this recipe. The large version is made just like they do in the best curry houses. Make a large batch for best results. It keeps in the fridge for three days and freezes well. The small batch version works well too though it’s not as authentic.

PRE-COOKED CHICKEN
I pre-cook chicken in two ways. Most restaurants use this method to prepare their chicken for this curry.

It’s slowly stewed in a spiced broth. The liquid from the resulting stock can be added to your chicken madras for extra flavour. You could also add tandoori style chicken tikka to this recipe if you’d like to create tandoori tandoori chicken dopiaza. For this recipe I used the slowly stewed version.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Some of the main ingredients including the pre-cooked chicken tikka.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Melt the ghee over medium high heat and then add the spices.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Now stir in the garlic and ginger paste and the tomato paste.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Stir in the onion sauce. This is the unblended version.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Add the curry sauce and the cooked chicken with some of the cooking juices.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Add a couple handfuls of fried onions.

Making chicken dopiaza curry

Add the fenugreek leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken dopiaza curry

There you go. Looks and tastes just like the Indian takeaway.

Here are more curry house curry favourites you might like to try!

Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Patia
Lamb Bhuna

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Yield: 4

How To Make Restaurant Style Chicken Dopiaza

How To Make Restaurant Style Chicken Dopiaza
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 800g - pre cooked chicken
  • 4 tablespoons ghee
  • 3 tablespoons garlic and ginger paste
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 tablespoons garam masala
  • 1 tablespoons cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 - 2 teaspoons mild red chilli powder
  • 500ml onion sauce
  • 500ml base curry sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
  • 2 handfuls of fried onion (make it yourself of purchase at Asian shops)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 small bunch fresh coriander - chopped

Instructions

  1. Melt the ghee over medium high heat.
  2. Pour in the spices and fry for about 60 seconds.
  3. Now add the garlic and ginger paste along with the tomato paste and stir it all up to combine.
  4. Add the onion sauce followed by the curry sauce and chicken. Add a little of the cooking stock from the chicken for more depth.
  5. Simmer for a couple of minutes and then add the dried fenugreek leaves and fried onions.
  6. Stir it all up and add the coriander and salt and pepper to taste.

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 I hope you like this restaurant style chicken dopiaza recipe. If you do give it a try, please don’t be a stranger. Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. 

Anne

Tuesday 23rd of February 2021

What would you suggest serving with this please? Means or rice or both?

Polly

Monday 4th of July 2022

@Dan Toombs, Can the onion sauce be made in a slow cooker rather than the oven to save time and with the price of electricity nowadays

Dan Toombs

Wednesday 24th of February 2021

I like to serve it with Basmati rice. Thanks Dan

Deke Weild

Tuesday 26th of January 2021

Odd how you use cumin & coriander seeds and cardamon pods in the video but not the receipe. Think I'll go down the video approach. Thanks for the recipes

Dan Toombs

Thursday 28th of January 2021

Hi Thank you for noticing. It looks like I have missed those ingredients out of the recipe so I will amend. Dan

Kate

Monday 4th of January 2021

Could you make this without the chicken for vegetarians with say paneer?

Dan Toombs

Thursday 7th of January 2021

Yes, that would work well. Thanks Dan

Simon

Sunday 10th of February 2019

What curry powder do you use for this recipe? As it’s only a mix of cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chilli powder why don’t you list out the individual spices?

Dan Toombs

Tuesday 26th of February 2019

Hi Simon

I usually use my own curry powder which is here https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2015/02/25/homemade-hot-madras-curry-powder/. You're right, you could leave it out and if you know your spices just add more of what you want. You could also use more curry powder for additional flavour.

Thanks, Dan

Jamie Young

Sunday 2nd of April 2017

Cooking time says 4 hours. Is this a mistake?

Dan Toombs

Thursday 13th of April 2017

Thanks for noticing that Jamie. Not sure what went on there. Once you make all the base ingredients, you should be able to throw this curry together in about ten minutes.

Thanks, Dan

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