Afghani chicken

Afghan cuisine is known for its bold flavors and spicy aromas of spices. Afghan-style chicken is one of the most popular dishes. It is a flavorful chicken curry often served with rice, roti, ...

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Chicken | Chicken thighs | Cream | Curry | Dinner | For a Crowd (or large group) | For special occasion | Middle east | Pan roasted / searing / pan frying / sautéing | Poultry | Spicy | Stew | Yogurt | Сhicken drumstick

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Afghan cuisine is known for its bold flavors and spicy aromas of spices. Afghan-style chicken is one of the most popular dishes. It is a flavorful chicken curry often served with rice, roti, or naan bread.

The chicken is fried first, for a delicious crust, and then stewed in of cream and yogurt sauce with the addition of various spices and herbs, such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin (zira) and turmeric.

This hearty dish is perfect for a family dinner or special occasion and is sure to impress everyone who tries it.

Change the amount of spices and spiciness in the sauce to your taste – adjusting the amount of chili or eliminating it from the recipe altogether.

Afghan chicken

⏱ Cooking time — 2 hours and 45 minutes overall. Includes 35 minutes of preparation and cooking + 2 hours and 10 minutes unattended.

🥣 Ingredients

🍽 For 4 servings:

  • 1 kg (2,2 lb) chicken (thighs or shanks)
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cm of ginger root
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 2-3 stalks of mint (don’t have? Use one of this substitutes)
  • 20 g cilantro (small bunch)
  • 2 chili peppers
  • 200 g (7 oz) yogurt
  • 200 g (7 oz) heavy cream
  • 50 g (1,8 oz) butter
  • 1/2 lemon (juice and zest)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. garam masala
  • cooking oil

Spice mix:

  • 2 cm of cinnamon
  • 2-3 boxes of cardamom
  • 3-4 clove buds
  • 4-6 peppercorns of black pepper
  • 5-8 coriander seeds
Ingredients for Afghan chicken: chicken, onions, garlic, cilantro, mint, cream, yogurt, butter, lemon, salt, pepper, garam masala, ginger, spice mixture

📋 Substitutes & Alternatives

Chicken – use chicken parts on the bone: thighs or shins. You can also use chicken breasts, but in this case you need to adjust the cooking time so as not to dry them out.

Onions – yellow or white, to your taste or whatever you have on hand. Onion – medium to large size.

Ginger – you need a thumb-sized piece of ginger for the listed amount of ingredients. Fresh ginger can be substituted for ~1/2 tsp. dried ginger.

Garlic – medium to large cloves.

Peppermint – Peppermint, only the leaves will be used, the stems are too tough.

Cilantro – both leaves and stems can be used. Some of the leaves will be used to decorate the finished dish. 20 g is about 10 – 12 sprigs.

The cream is 33%+ fat. But considering that we are going to strain the sauce through a sieve all the same, we don’t have to worry much about curdling, so you can use a less heavy cream, losing a little bit of flavor.

Yogurt – ideally we should use buffalo milk yogurt, but alternatively we could use Greek yogurt. The higher the fat content, the better.

Garam masala is an Indian blend of ground spices that is widely used in Indian cooking. It includes cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, and black pepper, although the composition may vary depending on the recipe or region. You can substitute curry powder or take equal parts of the above spices and grind them into a powder.

Spice mix – since all of these spices are part of garam masala, using them is an optional step. But to my taste, saturating the oil with this mixture makes the flavor richer and “fuller” as they reveal differently in whole and ground form. You can vary the amount and ingredients used, exclude something or substitute something. You can also add 1/2 tsp. turmeric and/or 1/2 tsp. zira.

Lemon – the juice and zest are used. You can add it to the marinade or at the end of cooking. In the first case, it will have a stronger effect on the taste, and in the second case, there is less chance that the sauce will curdle. I add it to the marinade and strain the sauce from the curdled protein.

Chili – an authentic Afghan chicken recipe uses green chili, it’s smaller in size but spicier. I substitute the same amount of red. Alternatively, you can take 1-2 tsp. ground chili powder or chili flakes, or 0.5 – 1.5 tsp. ground roasted ground chili and bird’s eye mixture.

Vegetable oil – any neutral vegetable oil suitable for frying: refined sunflower oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, corn oil, etc., as well as melted butter or ghee.

Afghan chicken

 🔪 Step by step Directions

Take 2 chili peppers, 1 onion, 6 garlic cloves and 3 cm of ginger root. Cut off the tails of the chili and tap it with the flat side of a knife. Scrape out the seeds.

Cut off the tips of an onion and peel it from the husks. Crush the garlic with a knife and peel it. Peel the ginger.

Cut everything into medium sized chunks.

Separate leaves from 2-3 stems of mint, discard stems.

Set aside about 3/4 of the cilantro, and tear the leaves off the remaining stems. Fold the stems into the main part of the cilantro.

Add a few mint leaves to the cilantro leaves and set aside.

Mix onion, garlic, chilies, mint leaves, cilantro and ginger in the bowl of a blender. Add about 50 ml water. Salt with a generous pinch of salt (1 tsp.). Puree until smooth.

Add the resulting marinade in a blender to 1 kg (2,2 lb) of chicken. Grate the zest of 1 lemon and squeeze out the lemon juice. Stir and let stand for 2 hours.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil and heat it up as well.

Place the chicken in the pan, first removing as much marinade as possible from the chicken pieces.

Fry the chicken on all sides for 10 minutes. Cook on one side, flip to the other side after 3 minutes, cook for 3 minutes. Also roast on the sides for 2 to 3 minutes each, holding chicken with tongs.

Remove from heat.

Melt 50 g (1,8 oz) of butter in a wide saucepan over medium heat.

Add the spice mixture: 2 cm Cinnamon, 2-3 boxes of cardamom, 3-4 buds of cloves, 4-6 peas of black pepper, 5-8 coriander seeds. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.

Add 200 g (7 oz) of cream. Heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Now add 200 g (7 oz) of yoghurt. The yoghurt must be fat so that it does not curdle.

I recently read about a couple of ways to prevent curdling, and they recommend: tempering the yogurt – adding a couple tablespoons of hot sauce to it and stirring, adding yogurt to the pot gradually rather than all at once, and – adding cornstarch or flour to the yogurt.

I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, so you can use some or all of these tips and write in the comments about the result.

Add 1 tsp. garam masala and pour in the rest of the chicken marinade. Mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes on low heat.

If the sauce does curdle (which is likely to happen due to the increased acidity and high temperature) – strain it through a sieve.

Rinse pan and return to heat.

Return the sauce to the pot and add the chicken, stirring so that the chicken is coated on all sides with the sauce. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes – flip the chicken, cover and cook for another 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat.

Serve the chicken with the sauce and garnish with mint leaves and cilantro.

Afghan chicken
Afghan chicken by bayevskitchen.com

Afghan chicken

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Afghan chicken is a flavorful chicken curry often served with rice, roti, or naan bread.
The chicken is first fried, for a delicious crust, and then stewed in a creamy sauce of cream and yogurt with the addition of various spices and herbs, such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin (zira) and turmeric.
This hearty dish is perfect for a family meal or special occasion and is sure to impress all who try it.
CourseMain Dishes
CuisineAfgan
Cook Time35 minutes
Unattended:2 hours 10 minutes
Total Time2 hours 45 minutes
Servings4 servings

Ingredients 

  • 1 kg chicken (thighs or shanks)
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cm ginger root
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 stalks mint
  • 20 g cilantro (small bunch)
  • 2 chili peppers
  • 200 g yogurt
  • 200 g heavy cream
  • 50 g butter
  • ½ lemon (juice and zest)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. garam masala
  • oil

Spice mix:

  • 2 cm cinnamon
  • 2-3 boxes of cardamom
  • 3-4 clove buds
  • 4-6 peppercorns of black pepper
  • 5-8 coriander seeds

Instructions

  • Slice into medium sized pieces the chili peppers, onion, garlic cloves and ginger root.
  • Set aside about 3/4 of the cilantro to the side.
    Add a few mint leaves to the cilantro leaves, set aside.
  • In the bowl of a blender, combine onion, garlic, chilies, mint leaves, cilantro and ginger. Add water and salt. Puree until smooth.
    Add marinade to chicken, add lemon juice and zest. Allow to stand for 2 hours.
  • Fry chicken in oil until golden on all sides, 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
  • In a wide saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, add spice mixture and cook, stirring, about 1 minute.
    Add cream, yogurt, garam masala powder and chicken marinade. Cook until smooth.
    Strain through a sieve if the sauce curdles.
  • Rinse out the pan and return it to the heat.
    Pour sauce into saucepan and add chicken, stir to combine. Cook over low heat for 10-12 minutes, turning chicken over after 10 minutes.
  • Serve the chicken in the sauce, garnished with mint leaves and cilantro.

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About me:

Hi, I'm Alex. I love to cook and bake, and I'm always looking for new recipes to try. I started this blog — to collect and share most delicious and easy recipes in one place. I remember, how many questions recipes raised to me, when I started cooking. To make sure that doesn't happen to you, I take step-by-step photos of the cooking process for every recipe so you can see how all the steps are supposed to go together, even if you're not following my recipes exactly.

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