Chicken Jalfrezi at Home: A Fiery Stir-Fried Curry With Chunky Peppers and Onions
This chicken jalfrezi recipe is built on speed. Jalfrezi is the curry that never simmers for hours: it is stir-fried fast over a high flame in a thick tomato masala, and its signature is the chunky peppers and onions that still have some bite left when the plate reaches the table. That is why restaurants love it — it can be on the table minutes after the order — and there is no reason home kitchens cannot work the same way, as long as the vegetables go in last.
Ingredients
Half a kilogram of boneless chicken in small pieces; three tablespoons of oil; one large onion cut into chunky pieces; one capsicum cut the same way; two medium tomatoes, pureed; one tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste; one teaspoon of red chilli powder; half a teaspoon of turmeric; one teaspoon of coriander powder; half a teaspoon of cumin powder; half a teaspoon of garam masala; two to three green chillies slit lengthways; salt to taste; fresh coriander and fine ginger slivers to garnish.
Method
Heat the oil in a karahi and fry the chicken over a high flame for five to six minutes until the pieces take on colour, then set them aside. In the same oil, fry the ginger-garlic paste, add the tomato puree with the chilli, turmeric, coriander, cumin and salt, and cook the masala until the oil separates at the edges. Return the chicken, cook for eight to ten minutes over a medium flame, adding a splash of water only if the masala gets too dry. Last of all, add the onion, capsicum and green chillies and cook for just four to five minutes — the vegetables should soften, never collapse; that crunch is the whole point of a jalfrezi. Sprinkle over the garam masala and turn off the heat.
Serving
Serve it straight from the karahi or on a plate, scattered with coriander and ginger. It sits as happily beside plain boiled rice as it does with a hot naan. One warning worth heeding: an overcooked pepper loses both its colour and its bite, so keep an eye on the clock in those final minutes.
