Chicken Angara ( Spicy tomato base chicken curry)

Chicken Angara is a hot and spicy dish with a smokey flavour using the Dhungar method. This dish is red and has very much of a restaurant-style taste. Tender and succulent pieces of chicken cooked in tomato and fried onion-based gravy, along with special spices. This delicious chicken curry is the ultimate comfort food for chicken curry lovers. You can make a full-flavoured tasty chicken dish with this easy recipe. I am sharing a very easy and simple method for this dish. All you need is some hot paratha, naan or roti to enjoy this.

  Table of contents

1. About the recipe

2. Ingredients

3. Step-by-step method

4. Tips

Serving Suggestion:   4  

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking    time:    30 minutes

1. About the recipe 

Chicken Angara is a special, flavoured dish you can make on any occasion. The smokey flavour of the chicken and yoghurt gravy with special masala can make anyone’s favourite curry. You can find this curry in most Indian restaurants, but now you can make it in your kitchen and enjoy it from this recipe. The spices play an important role in this curry. This Chicken Angara masala can be stocked up in an air-tight container for about 5 to 6 months. This masala can be used with other recipes(paneer, tofu, soya, mushroom) but differently. Follow my recipe for this amazing Chicken Angara dish.

Let’s Start Cooking!

2. Ingredients 

•  500 gm Chicken ( curry cut)
•  1 cup yoghurt
•  2  fried onions (birista)
•  1 tbsp ginger paste
•  1 tbsp garlic paste
•  1 cup tomato puree
•  1 tbsp red chilli powder
•  1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
•  1 teaspoon of garam masala powder
•  Salt
•  1 tbsp Fenugreek leaves ( kasoori methi)
• Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

For Angara special masala

•  3 tbsp coriander seeds
•  2 tbsp cumin seeds
•  4 to 5 whole red chilli
•  15 to 20 black pepper
•   1 cinnamon stick
•   4 clove
•   4 green cardamom
•   1 black cardamom 

3. Step-by-step method

For Angara special masala :

Dry roast all the dry ingredients in a pan or tawa for a few minutes until they are slightly brown and fragrant. Remove the pan from heat and let the spices cool down.

• Grind the roasted spices into a fine powder in a blender or grinder.

For Gravy :

• Put 3 to 4 tomatoes in a blender and blend them in a smooth puree. Tomatoes should be fresh and ripe.
• Cut onion in thinly sliced and fry them until they turn golden brown.
• In a bowl, mix chicken with all the ingredients( angar masala powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, yoghurt, tomato paste, ginger, garlic paste, fried onions, salt and kasuri methi)  and leave for an hour. Marination will give another level of taste to the curry.
• Put marinated chicken and 1/2 cup of refined oil in a kadhai or pan. Mix it and cover it with the lid.
• Cook on high flame only for 2 to 3 minutes in starting, then slow down the flame and cook for another 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you will notice oil separating from the gravy.

Dhungar Method

• Heat charcoal on a direct flame until it is red hot. Keep a small bowl or use aluminium foil in the centre of the kadhai or pan, drizzle very little oil on the coal and immediately cover the kadhai or pan with the lid and leave for 1 or 2 minutes.

Angara Chicken is ready … You can enjoy it with Naan, Paratha, Tandoori roti or Rumali roti…You can also serve it with plain rice or pulao.

4. Tips

• Adding fresh tomato puree gives an authentic gravy compared to one in cans.
• Simmering the gravy for the final few minutes takes the curry to the next level.
• Angara chicken is typically made with curry cut pieces.
• In this dish, I am using Kashmiri red chilli powder for a dark red colour; you can use normal red chilli powder for more spiciness.
• Yoghurt should be fresh, not sour.