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Chicken Curry

A curry made by simmering chicken pieces in a spiced paste of ginger, turmeric, pepper, and aromatics.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Chicken Curry

Why it works: Turmeric and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 667 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Chicken Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the chicken pieces in saltwater until ready.

  2. In a mortar, combine ginger, turmeric, black pepper, mace, cloves, cardamom, cayenne, and salt to taste, then add chopped onions and mix until a paste forms.

Cook the curry

  1. In a pan, melt butter and roll in flour, then fry the chicken pieces until browned but not fully cooked.

  2. In a separate saucepan, bring enough water to cover the chicken to a boil, stir in the curry paste until dissolved, then add the chicken and simmer until fully cooked.

Serve

  1. Serve the chicken with boiled rice, either on the same dish or separately.

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. Turmeric + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together667 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Clove + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Ginger + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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; browning and then simmering firms and cooks the meat through.
Onions
Break down into the paste, adding sweetness and body to the curry base.
Flour
Coats the chicken pieces so they brown in the butter and help thicken the sauce.
Butter
Fat for frying that carries flavour and promotes browning on the chicken.
Ginger
Adds warm, aromatic pungency to the spice paste.

The step that matters

Fry the chicken only until browned, not fully cooked. The chicken finishes cooking in the simmering sauce. Overcooking it while frying leaves the meat dry and tough, since muscle proteins tighten and moisture is lost with prolonged high heat.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ginger, turmeric, pepper, clove, cardamom, onion):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ginger, turmeric, pepper, clove, cardamom, onion. 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.

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

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