MalvaNi cuisine comes from the Konkan coastal region of Maharashtra and Goa and uses coconut liberally in most of its dishes. This Malvani chicken curry is hot, and a very tasty recipe and it is just perfect if you like spicy flavorful blends that tickle your taste buds. This recipe from my collection of Malvani recipes, is just so perfect! The chicken is cooked with a spice combination, along with a Malvani spice blend as well, and ends up in a rich coconut gravy which comes together in a very tasty chicken curry made in authentic Malvani style. This is my sure fire Instant Pot version, (of course, it can also be cooked in a pressure cooker or in a pan) and in this version, I have used a store bought Malvani blend, just so it is easier for today's busy lifestyles. I will also try and include the recipe for the authentic blend in my blog, if you want to make it yourself. You can make a batch of the spice blend and store the powder in a bottle and use it for a long time.
MalvaNi Chicken Curry
Recipe
Ingredients:
• 1 pound Chicken boneless, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
• 3 tbsp Ghee or Oil
• 1 Green Chili Pepper small, chopped (optional)
• 1 inch Ginger finely chopped
• 5 cloves Garlic finely chopped
• (or you could also use a Tablespoon of ginger garlic paste)
• 1 Onion medium sized, finely chopped
• 2 Tomato medium sized, finely chopped
• ⅓ cup Water
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• ¼ cup Cilantro to garnish
• 1 small 5 oz can of coconut milk
Whole Spices
1 Black Cardamom (BaDi Elaichi)
1 Green Cardamom
2 Bay leaf
6 Cloves
6 Black Peppercorns
½ tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera
Spices
2 tsp Coriander powder or Dhaniya powder
½ tsp Kashmiri red chili powder (you can add more if you prefer spicier)
½ tsp Garam masala or MalvaNi Masala (I used a store brought MalvaNi masala)
¼ tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
1 tsp Salt (adjust to taste)
Steps:
1. Cut the boneless chicken into bite size pieces, about 1-2 inch in size, and keep aside. I mostly
use boneless breasts, but I have to say that the boneless thighs or bone in chicken imparts great
flavors and on occasion I do use those as well.
2. Heat your Instant pot in Sauté mode and add oil or ghee to it. I prefer to use a blend of ghee and
oil. Add the whole spices and sauté for 30 seconds until you get the aroma.
3. Add in the chopped green chilli, onions, ginger and garlic to the pot and sauté for about 4
- 5 minutes until they turn golden brown. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
4. Add in the chopped tomatoes and spice powders, and salt to taste. Sauté more for another 5
minutes, and make sure you keep stirring at regular intervals.
5. Add the chicken and sauté for 5 minutes. Do not skip this step, as this braising step adds lots of
flavor to the curry.
6. Lastly add in the water and stir it with the chicken. Deglaze and scrape off the bottom of the pot.
7. Turn the Saute function off, and change the instant pot setting to manual/pressure cook mode
on high for 5 minutes.
8. When the instant pot beeps, carefully quick release the pressure manually. Add in the coconut
milk and mix well. Heat or Saute mode until it comes to a boil. Stir in the lemon
juice and turn of Instant Pot.
9. Garnish with cilantro and chicken curry is ready to serve.
Notes:
You can cook this curry on your stove top pressure cooker or in a regular pan too. Take care not to over cook the chicken.
For stove top method, follow the steps above, and cook the chicken curry for about 15 minutes. Make sure you follow you keep stirring the dish once in awhile to make sure the curry does not burn.
For pressure cooker too, follow the recipe. once you close the lid, cook the chicken for about 4 whistles.
Here are some guidelines for the recipe:
If using big pieces of chicken, increase the pressure cooking time to 6 minutes. I used chicken breasts when making this curry, but chicken thighs work great and are juicier.
I typically use a Thai Chili Pepper for this recipe. To make this less spicy, you can skip the green chili. Also adjust the red chili powder to taste. You can use paprika if you dont have Kashmiri Red Chili powder.
This is a homestyle indian chicken curry, which is typically not a thick sauce. If you want to thicken the curry, you can add in some cashew paste, cashew butter, or additional coconut milk, or heavy cream.
I used my 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Programmable Pressure Cooker to create this recipe.
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