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Chicken Curry

A curry made with chicken, onions, butter, curry powder, tomatoes, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chicken Curry

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Chicken Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Make the curry base

  1. Melt the butter in a pot.

  2. Add the finely chopped onions and cook until browned, stirring constantly.

  3. Add the chicken cut into small pieces, curry powder, tomatoes, salt, and cayenne pepper, then stir well.

Simmer and serve

  1. Cover tightly and let simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

  2. Add the milk and bring to a boil.

  3. Serve with boiled rice.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it simmers in the sauce.
Onions
Browning builds savoury sweetness and depth that forms the base of the sauce.
Butter
Carries the curry powder's fat-soluble aromatics and adds richness to the sauce.
Curry powder
Supplies the spice aroma that defines the dish; blooming in fat intensifies it.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body, helping thicken the sauce as they break down during simmering.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the sharpness of the tomatoes and spices.

The step that matters

Cook the onions until browned, stirring constantly. Onions that are only softened stay pale and sharp; browning develops sweet, deep flavours through the Maillard reaction. Constant stirring prevents scorching, which would leave a bitter taste in the sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, tomato, pepper, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, tomato, pepper, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More chicken curry recipes

with Rice 14Indian 9East Indian 5Whole 5Coconut 4Anglo-Indian 3 See all 164 →

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