Chicken Chasni – Red or natural… You decide.
Many people say that chicken chasni is the new chicken tikka masala. Only time will tell if it is to become one of the nation’s favourite curries. One thing is for sure… People love it.
In my cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Bible’ I featured this recipe without using red food colouring.
The thing is, more often than not, it is bright red just like a chicken tikka masala often is.
Chicken chasni curry. Remember, the food colouring is optional.
How is this chicken chasni recipe differ to the one in my cookbook?
Not a lot really. I love this chicken chasni recipe and wanted you to try it the way I make it at home.
In my cookbooks, the recipe is family size to serve 4 or more as part of a multi-course meal.
The recipe below is a curry house portion that will serve 1 – 2 people. I just halved the recipe.
Chicken chasni is the perfect beginner curry!
Chicken chasni is one of those curries you can really have a play with. There is so much going on in this British invented curry.
You’ve got sweetness from the ketchup and mango chutney and a nice sourness from the mint sauce and lemon juice. As there really isn’t any hot spices in the curry, it is a good one to serve to kids and those who don’t like spicy curries.
Be sure to taste the curry before serving. You can adjust the sourness and sweetness to your own preference.
Why not have a play with the ingredients?
You probably already have some if not all of these ingredients but if you don’t, they’re readily available at most supermarkets!
My wife likes me to add coconut milk to this chicken chasni recipe instead of cream. Coconut milk isn’t normally used in chicken chasni but it does offer a nice touch.
I prefer my curries spicier so I add a little red chilli powder to mine. Again, this isn’t normally done in a chasni but if it sounds good to you, do it.
What about the colouring?
Chicken chasni curries are famous for being bright red in colour. I’m afraid that is done with food colouring.
I’ve heard stories about how chicken chasni curries are actually sent back because they aren’t red enough. That’s a bit silly as there is no flavour in that red food dye.
Of course the colour of this chicken chasni curry is completely down to you. I usually leave the food colouring out but added it this time. If you want it bright red, purchase some food colouring and add it until you are happy with the colour.
Just a little should usually be enough.
Prepared ingredients…
This is a curry house style curry and that means there is some forward preparation required.
You will need to pre-cook your chicken. Try this stewed chicken recipe or perhaps you would like this tandoori chicken tikka better.
You will also need to make the base curry sauce. I make mine in large batches and then freeze what I don’t use. This makes whipping up a restaurant curry really easy.
One thing you might also like to do is pre-cook your chicken in the base sauce. This adds a nice flavour to the sauce too.
I recommend getting all of your ingredients ready before starting cooking. You don’t want to have to look for ingredients when the pan is hot.
Chicken Chasni step by step…
Heat the oil over medium high heat and stir in the garlic and ginger paste to fry for about 30 seconds.
Stir in the turmeric. I like to add the cumin later in cooking but if you like a weaker cumin flavour, add it now too.
Stir in a couple of ladles of base sauce and bring to a simmer.
Stir in the pre-cooked chicken. Add more base if needed to coat.
Bring the base sauce to a simmer, only stirring if it is obviously sticking to the pan.
Stir in the mango chutney, mint sauce and ketchup.
Then add the cream.
Your sauce is just about finished. You can now add food colouring if you want.
To finish, stir in the coriander and season with salt to taste.
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
International & UK Orders
Cook yourself a curry house meal tonight. This chicken chasni is the perfect addition.
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.
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.Restaurant Style Chicken Chasni
Ingredients
Instructions
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I hope you enjoy this chicken chasni curry 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.
I cook something very similar and I agree – it’s better than butter chicken, minus the fat. Wonderful!
I cooked this curry the other day and it was awesome. I love in China so it can be hard to get the ingredients sometimes. I had to substitute mango chutney for fresh mango, but it was so good. I love this inspirational site – keep up the good work.
Thank you Alan. I’m really glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Dan
Thank you for your curry recipes
Thank you David for stopping by.
Dan
Hi I just made chicken chasni, without the chicken, I added mushrooms,red and green peppers, was wonderful, I also want to say that the restaurant curry base,is great for the perfect masala, thank you for your recipes,because the takeaway,s about here are not great, so thanks , and I make enough for the freezer like you suggested..
Great to hear you liked it David. Thank you.
Dan
Thank you for your wonderful recipes, pure quality, cheers.
Thanks David.
Dan
Just tried this today. . Hell delish.. tasted a bit like handi .. But maybe cuz i didn’t had mango chutney so i just made it without it
Thank you Fatimah. Really glad you liked the recipe.
Dan
I have followed this fantastic recipe a number of times now ,And it never fails. The whole family loves it ,thanks
Great to hear Joe. Thanks for trying it. I’m really glad you like it.
Dan
Hi, Dan!
I was looking forward to trying this recipe for my wife for Valentine’s day.
As I don’t live in the UK, mint sauce is hard to find. I replaced it with some fresh mint leaves.
The whole family simply loved it. Another great recipe of yours that I can tick from the to-do list.
Cheers,
Christian
Thank you very much Christian. I’m really glad you and family liked the recipe and that you were able to improvise. 🙂
Dan
Hi Dan,
I made this, but when I reached into the cupboard for the mango chutney, there it wasn’t. But I did have some amchoor (dried mango powder) so added a heaped tablespoonful. I tasted after blending to see if it needed some honey to make up the lost sweetness from the chutney, but liked the zing. I had used coconut milk, but used plain yoghurt instead of cream, which added tang to the zing.
But – 4 chicken breasts, feeds 2? I made three very generous servings of it, and with rice and a roti it would serve four without looking mean.
I’m thinking next time of thinning the gravy and adding some black lentils. This is heading into dhansak/Parthia country, but will also stretch it to feed four or five easily, maybe six (I’m a thrifty cook).
Hi Gavin
Love it when people experiment with my recipes. Sounds like an interesting dish you came up with. Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
Dan
Best chasni recipe I’ve found. Thanks!
Thank you very much Sam! Really happy you liked it.
Dan
Really good chasni recipe thank you 🙂 I added red food colouring to make it look a nice pinkish shade similar to my local takeaway!
Hi Kelly
That’s great to hear. Thank you.
Dan
One of my favourites at my local Indian restaurant, they make it with chicken tikka though so that’s what I did as I had been given a terracotta pot for this purpose as a gift. Lovely contrast between the spicy meat and the sweet sauce (left the chilies out of the sauce in this case), but it’s also lovely following the recipe exactly.
Hi Andrew
Thank you very much. I’m really happy you like the recipe. 🙂
Dan
Absolutely delicious curry, Dan has got the measurements spot on, I’ve been following Dan’s recipes for many years and this dish is up there with the best.
I know everyone’s taste palate is different, but not to hot and lots going on, I omitted the butter though (only cause I forgot), to busy doing taste tests.
Thank you very much for that Dave! I’m really happy you liked the recipes.
Cheers,
Dan
Hello Dan! I was wondering if you could be so kind as to share the recipe for the mint sauce or let me know where I can find the right recipe — I can’t find the sauce itself in my local stores but I think I could get the ingredients so I would like to make it myself. I’d really appreciate your insight! Thank you!
Hi
Mint sauce is just very finely chopped fresh mint mixed with a little bit of vinegar until you get the right consistency.
Thanks
Dan
Hi Dan. Thanks for this recipe. Unusually, I don’t like ketchup. What would you use instead and what quantity? Keep up the great work!
If you don’t like ketchup just miss it out and maybe add a few tablespoons of passata
Thanks
Dan
Hi Dan, might want spell check your last comment here, it made me giggle! I’m guessing you meant *miss 😀
Thanks for noticing! I have changed to miss!!!
Glad I made you giggle though, woops!
Dan
Second time using the recipe, was loved so much my family asked for me to make a batch for them to have some handy in the freezer. I can’t wait to try your other curry recipes! Thank you
Thanks very much, really good to hear.
Dan