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Chicken Pathia

January 18, 2012 By Dan Toombs 48 Comments

Like your curries sweet, sour and mildly spiced? Try this chicken pathia!

Chicken pathia is a UK original! It was developed first by Bangladeshi chefs at British curry houses in an attempt to compete with the hugely popular sweet and sour chicken that was becoming popular at Chinese takeaways. 

Chicken pathia most definitely got the result they were looking for and now it is difficult to find a curry house menu that doesn’t feature this delicious curry.

Chicken pathia

Sweet, sour and a bit spicy. You are going to love this one! Chicken pathia is perfect with a Last Train Oatmeal Stout from Fourpure Brewing Company!

 

Chicken pathia… What flavour to aim for…

If you are thinking about making this restaurant style chicken pathia, you probably already know that it is a delicious combination of sweet and sour.

In this case, the sweetness comes from the sugar and mango chutney. The sourness is from the lemon juice and tamarind.

There is also a hint of spiciness from the chilli powder.

All of these flavours can be adjusted to taste by adding less or more of each.

I love this chicken pathia recipe exactly as written but feel free to adjust the recipe to your own preferences. You’ll like it much better then. 

The difference between this chicken pathia and the one in my cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Bible’.

No much! 

In my cookbooks, my curry house curry recipe serve four people.

On my blog, I have written them in curry house portions to serve one to two people.

Recipe ingredient substitutes for chicken pathia…

Chicken pathia is hugely popular at restaurant but so are other variations.

You might like to add tandoori prawns to the sauce instead of chicken to make a prawn patia. Lamb, vegetable kofta, paneer, beef… All of these will work. 

About the prepared ingredients…

This is a curry house recipe and in order to get those right, you need to use a base sauce. Here is one of my recipes.

It takes about an hour to make but don’t let that stop you! A large batch of base curry sauce is enough for about 30 portions. It freezes really well.

This comes in really handy when you want a curry house style chicken pathia or any of the other famous curries. Once your prep work is done, this chicken pathia can be whipped up in minutes.

Pre-cooked meat and/or vegetables is also good to have on hand. Not only does it speed up the cooking process, it also adds another layer of delicious flavour.

Working ahead…

Indian restaurant curries like this chicken pathia usually include a lot of ingredients.

I recommend getting all of your ingredients ready.

This saves having to look for essential ingredients while cooking.

 

 

Chicken pathia

So easy to make! You really can recreate the most popular curry house curries at home!

Would you like to see step by step photos of how to make chicken pathia?

Here you go…

 

Frying onions

Fry the chopped onion until soft and translucent.

Adding garlic and ginger paste

Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and fry for about 30 seconds.

Adding spices to the pan

Add the ground spices and sugar to the pan.

Adding tomato puree to pan

Add the tomato puree and give it all a good stir.

Adding base sauce to the pan

Add the base sauce and bring it to a simmer.

adding pre-cooked chicken

Stir in the pre-cooked chicken.

Adding mango chutney and tamarind

add the tamarind, mango chutney and dried fenugreek.

adding colouring

Add the lemon juice. Then a little red food colouring if preferred. This adds no flavour. Then garnish with chopped coriander (cilantro).

 

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

Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Lamb Bhuna

chicken pathia curry

Dig in!

Special Fourpure Beer Offer!

Restaurant style chicken chasni is perfect paired with a cold beer from The Fourpure Brewing Company!

If you would like to try some, you can order here. Use the discount code thecurryguy20 to receive a 20% discount through the end of March 2021.

Yield: 4

How to Make Chicken Patia Curry - A Sweet And Sour Curry House Favourite

How to Make Chicken Patia Curry - A Sweet And Sour Curry House Favourite
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
  • 1 tbsp mixed powder
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder (more or less to taste)
  • 1 tbsp sugar (more or less to taste)
  • 70ml (1/4 cup) tomato puree
  • 300ml (1 1/4 cup) approx. base curry sauce
  • 350g ( 12oz) pre-cooked chicken
  • 1/2 tbsp smooth mango chutney
  • 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
  • 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
  • Juice of one lemon
  • red food colouring (optional)
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro)
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, stir in the chopped onion and fry for about 3 to 5 minutes or until soft.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and stir, allowing to sizzle for about 45 seconds.
  3. Now add the mixed powder, chilli powder, and sugar and fry for a further 30 seconds.
  4. Add the tomato puree followed by a ladle of base sauce. Continue adding a little base as required. If the curry is looking too dry, add more base sauce. If too saucy, just cook it down.
  5. Stir in the pre-cooked chicken or what ever pre-cooked main ingredient you like.
  6. Now add the tamarind concentrate and mango chutney and stir it into the sauce.
  7. Allow to cook down to your preferred sauce texture or add more base sauce if necessary.
  8. Add the dried methi and lemon juice. The stir in the food colouring if using.
  9. Garnish with the chopped coriander (cilantro) and season with salt to taste.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

2

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 471mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 4gSugar: 12gProtein: 13g

The above nutritional info is done with a program and is just an estimate.

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© Dan Toombs
Cuisine: British Indian Restaurant (BIR) / Category: Main
I hope you enjoy this restaurant style chicken pathia recipe. If you do try it, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Chicken Curry Recipes, Favourites, Restaurant Style Curries Tagged With: BIR curries, Patia, sweet and sour curries, Takeaway Chicken Patia Recipe, Takeaway curry recipes

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Comments

  1. Jennifer Griffiths says

    February 11, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    Fantastic curry recipes the whole family and friends really enjoy them, how do I make the madras hotter as for Vindaloo or Phall. Keep up the good work and thank you. Jenny

    Reply
  2. Kevin says

    February 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    Thanks, this is my favorite. I have looked for this recipe for years. Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      February 27, 2012 at 2:03 pm

      Thank you Kevin.

      Hope you like the recipe. It is a real hit at my house. Thanks!
      Dan

      Reply
  3. Kavey says

    March 28, 2012 at 8:56 pm

    From what I understand, patia is an authentic Parsee dish, but uses seafood not chicken. So it could be made with prawns, or fish.

    I think it’s just the idea to use same kind of sauce for chicken and other meats that is a BIR thing.

    Though I’d imagine the base recipe has changed somewhat too.

    But patia per se is not completely a BIR thing.

    (PS Came here via a link on pinterest)

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      March 29, 2012 at 9:35 am

      Hi Kavey

      Thanks for stopping by and that’s news to me. Thanks for letting me know. Do you have a link I can go to so that I can read about fish patia being authentic Indian? 🙂

      Reply
  4. Steve Bunney says

    April 9, 2012 at 2:12 am

    Having moved to Australia 6 years ago, we have tried everywhere here to find a decent tasting curry but to no avail, until i came across your website, i was blown away at how tasty this dish is, just like the curries we have back in the UK.Thank you so much for your recipes.Easy to follow and very very tasty…

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 9, 2012 at 7:59 am

      Hi Steve

      Really glad you liked my recipe! Thank you very much for giving it a try. I’ve got loads more recipes on the way so please don’t be a stranger. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Emma says

    April 22, 2012 at 11:41 am

    Sounds delicious! Do you think this would work with paneer or quorn pieces to make it veggie?

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 22, 2012 at 8:17 pm

      It is nice. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I think potatoes, quorn and/or paneer would work very well with this recipe.

      Reply
  6. Yvonne says

    May 6, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Not sure what I did wrong but looked too dark and thick and tasted much too “rich”. Wondered if I’d added too much cumin or was it the wrong curry powder (medium)? It’s my favourite take-away curry so hope you can help. Thanks

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      May 7, 2012 at 11:21 am

      Hi Yvonee

      If you use a store bought curry powder, you won’t get great results. Try using my homemade version in the larder cupboard section of my site.

      Reply
  7. jon baylis says

    October 14, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    ok so iv never cooked indian before and i love chicken pathia , iv gone out and got all the ingredients as above , will let ya know how it goes

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      October 15, 2012 at 2:01 pm

      Great Jon. Good luck to you. Be sure to ask if you have any questions.

      Dan

      Reply
  8. Dave says

    March 29, 2013 at 7:14 am

    Hi Dan, just did your garlic chilli chicken and it was spot on. Looking to do a patia next. Just for clarification is the mint sauce you refer to the same mint sauce that you would traditionaly use with roast lamb ? Regards Dave

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 6, 2013 at 1:24 pm

      That’s the one Dave. I use Colemans but any good brand will do. Sometimes in Summer I make my own.

      Good luck with the recipe.

      Dan

      Reply
  9. Roy McFarlane says

    May 31, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Dan, this is by far the best patia recipe i’ve come across so far. Easy to make and very tasty, the missus preferred it to our local curry house and theirs is very good. well done mate, looking forward to trying a few more of your recipes.
    Roy

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      June 18, 2013 at 12:37 pm

      Thank you very much Roy. Really glad you liked the recipe.

      Reply
  10. Jodie Simpson says

    July 1, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    I have been looking for this receipe for ages, will give it a go this weekend.

    Thanks for sharing, pathia is my FAV!

    Reply
  11. Mike M says

    July 18, 2013 at 7:28 am

    Hi Dan,

    Before diving in with both feet first to make what looks to be a superb dish, a quick question on the Mint Sauce used.

    Do you mean Mint Concentrate (e.g. Colemans), Mint Sauce (e.g. Colemans that you have with your lamb roast) or the Mint Sauce put out with the pickles and poppadums?

    Already made your curry base and it works a treat.

    Many thanks,

    Mike

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      July 27, 2013 at 4:22 pm

      Hi Mike. Gosh – I didn’t know there are so many. LOL. I just use Colemans mint sauce – the same you use for lamb roast. That’s what most Indian restaurant chefs use too. 🙂

      Thanks.
      Dan

      Reply
      • Daniel says

        August 6, 2013 at 9:14 pm

        Dan and Mike

        I used the Colmans mint concentrate. I was very unsure about putting mint sauce in the curry at all so I only used one tablespoon. Even that quantity was quite over powering so I added two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar instead of any more mint sauce. After that the curry did turn out excellent. The next time I am going to start with apple cider vinegar and maybe add the mint concentrate. I have had lots of BIR Pathias and none of them have the unusual taste the mint gives it.

        Thank you for the recipe Dan it is very good overall. I am now living in Phoenix, Arizona and it is nice to know I have a good source of reipces. Our local Indian restruarants are beyond cr*p and could learn a thing or two from your website.

        Reply
  12. Susan says

    August 31, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    Hi Dan,
    I have been trying to perfect the wonderful patia for quite some time now. I have experimented with tamarind as I thought it was a compulsory ingredient for the patia recipe. I have also tried the lemon and vinegar alternatives too to try and capture the sweet and sour element. However, I am so so so excited about the recipe you have shared as patia is my all time favourite Indian curry and cooking Indian style curries is my all time favourite hobby.Can’t wait to give it a go.
    Thanks again x

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      September 16, 2013 at 5:32 pm

      Hi Susan

      Thanks for taking the time to comment. Hope you like the recipe. It’s a bit hit at my house.

      Dan

      Reply
  13. Becky says

    January 29, 2014 at 11:17 am

    Hi dan I am in the middle of making the pathia and have doubled the ingredients as I am cooking for 9 tonight. As I have doubled the ingredients I only added 4 tbsp of mint sauce and I have tried it and that is all I can taste when I taste thr sauce. Do you have any suggestions to fix this or is it supposed to taste really minty ?? Thanks

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      February 15, 2014 at 9:06 am

      Hi Becky

      I think I’m a bit late answering but you could just add a little more of the other sauce ingredients. Mint sauce is quite strong when you add it because of the vinegar. If you cooked it a few minutes, the strong flavour may go away on its own.

      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply
  14. Kim says

    March 2, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    Hi dan. Just asking about the curry gravy. Is it the one from local supermarkets like the chip shop curry sauce or is it something that you get from a special shop.

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      March 4, 2014 at 3:20 pm

      Hi Kim

      It’s a recipe used in a lot of curry houses to make curries faster and better. It really isn’t for sale though I do have a couple of recipes on my site.

      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply
  15. Dan says

    March 25, 2015 at 2:22 am

    Awesome will be trying this as soon as I’m back from my visit to the usa, I always order lamb pathia, tried getting one here in the states but no one has heard of it 🙁

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 5, 2015 at 1:47 pm

      Hi Dan

      Pathia is a British invention so you won’t find it many places in the states. Hope you do get a chance to try the recipe.

      Dan

      Reply
  16. Darren says

    April 20, 2015 at 11:51 am

    Hi Dan,

    Any reason why the tablespoon of tomato paste is not included in the patia sauce here but in the ebook version it is? I love this sauce by the way!

    Darren

    Reply
  17. Mark says

    August 17, 2015 at 6:17 am

    Wonderful. I haven’t had one of these for almost 20 years, since I moved away from the UK. It turned out beautifully. Thanks Dan.

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      August 17, 2015 at 7:27 pm

      Thank you Mark. Really glad you liked the recipe. 🙂

      Dan

      Reply
  18. Kev says

    October 23, 2015 at 12:38 am

    Hi Dan,

    Just wonder when you say this:

    5.Add the garlic and ginger paste and stir, allowing to sizzle for about 45 seconds.
    6.Now add the chilli powder, cumin and coriander and fry for a further 30 seconds.:

    Is this inclusive of having a curry base on hand?

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      October 25, 2015 at 5:31 pm

      Hi Kev

      You need to have the curry sauce ready to go and heated. The recipe is on my site. Happy cooking and good luck.

      Dan

      Reply
  19. Garry says

    January 24, 2016 at 4:28 pm

    This has been my favourite curry for years, after trying it at the Curry Garden in Ringwood. It’s always been hard to find it quite the same at other restaurants 🙁 Then I found this recipe and started tweaking – fresh (or frozen) mango instead of the mango chutney; tomato puree instead of the ketchup, and apple cider vinegar and some dried mint instead of the mint sauce. I also threw in some fresh tomatoes near the end. It was very close to how I remembered but not sweet enough so I used some (quite a lot of!) erithrytol and that was it – just as I remembered it 🙂 Stevia would work too, as does jaggery or maple syrup, depending on just how healthy you want it to be 🙂

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      February 12, 2016 at 12:33 pm

      Hi Garry

      Nice to see you can adjust it all to your own tastes. Sounds like you did a great job of it.

      Dan

      Reply
  20. Neil W says

    September 17, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    Hi Dan. Loving your recipes ,made 3 in a week!
    Was just wondering, I made patia and jalfrezi, and as much as I liked them my wife found them a little too sweet for her liking, is there any of the ingredients that I should reduce to take the sweetness away a bit? I’m guessing the mango chutney, but your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks Neil

    Reply
  21. Dave says

    October 18, 2016 at 2:21 am

    Hi Dan
    Just curious before I try this. The recipe seems like it makes a lot of sauce. For example, there is approx 500 ml in the patia sauce plus a further 500 ml of base gravy. Seems like a lot of liquid over 1 litre, assume this is correct?
    Thanks
    Dave

    Reply
  22. David McMeakin says

    February 25, 2017 at 9:17 am

    I love this recipe. I found you site whist searching for a Pathia recipe. I have since bought your app for the iPad, but is it possible to add this recipe to the app. Cheers

    David

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      February 28, 2017 at 1:51 pm

      Hi David

      Thank you. Yes, I am planning on doing that. The thing is, I need to remake it and take new step by step photographs for the app. I am hoping to do so soon.

      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply
  23. Ross says

    October 12, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    Can you use tandoori style chicken instead of pre-cooked chicken for this recipe?

    thanks

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      October 13, 2017 at 8:07 am

      Hi Ross

      You sure can. It would be really good.

      Thanks,
      Dan

      Reply
      • Ross says

        October 14, 2017 at 7:31 pm

        I just cooked it, and it was amazing. 5 stars

        Reply
        • Dan Toombs says

          October 17, 2017 at 9:44 pm

          Great to hear Ross.

          Thank you.
          Dan

          Reply
  24. Neil says

    March 17, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    Dan thank you My wife and I tried your recipe for the pathia and it was bang on could not believe it superb…chicken tikka is
    The next one on the list we bought one of your books thanks again Dan

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      March 19, 2019 at 7:26 am

      Hi Neil

      That’s great to hear! Thank you very much.

      Dan

      Reply
  25. Rob says

    April 4, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    Is the mint sauce TABLESPOONS? Put 3 in an was still quite strong. Had to put a bit of sugar in to balance it a bit

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 7, 2020 at 7:24 am

      Hi Rob

      Please use my recipes as guides as we all have different tastes. Sounds like you did in this case which is great!

      Thanks,
      Dan

      Reply

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