Name: Restaurant Style Chicken Chasni
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil; 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste; 1/4 tsp turmeric; 1 generous tsp ground cumin; 300ml (1 1/4 cups) base curry sauce; 300g (11oz) tandoori chicken tikka; 1 1/2 tbsp mango chutney; 1 tbsp mint sauce; 2 tbsp ketchup; 70ml (1/4 cup) single cream; Bright red food colouring (optional); 1/4 tsp garam masala; 1 1/2 tbsp coriander (cilantro) finely chopped; Salt to taste

Jump to Recipe

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.

If you'd like to make your chicken chasni curry into a curry feast, be sure to try plain or flavoured Basmati rice, homemade naans or chapatis, a good dal and a selection of chutneys. Don't forget the samosas!

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...

Frying garlic and ginger paste. — Heat the oil over medium high heat and stir in the garlic and ginger paste to fry for about 30 seconds.

Adding turmeric to the pan — 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.

Adding base sauce to the pan — Stir in a couple of ladles of base sauce and bring to a simmer.

Adding pre-cooked chicken to the pan — Stir in the pre-cooked chicken. Add more base if needed to coat.

Simmering chicken chasni — Bring the base sauce to a simmer, only stirring if it is obviously sticking to the pan.

Adding ketchup, mango chutney and mint sauce — Stir in the mango chutney, mint sauce and ketchup.

Adding cream to the pan — Then add the cream.

Chicken chasni curry without food colouring — Your sauce is just about finished. You can now add food colouring if you want.

finished chicken chasni — 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

Yield: 2