Badami Chicken Korma Recipe - is a creamy chicken recipe with a nutty texture and a royal Mughlai taste! It goes amazingly well with soft Rumali Roti.
When it comes to Mughlai and Royal recipes, I am always hungry for it. One such Tasty Chicken recipe that has always stayed with me is this delightful Authentic Badami Chicken Korma recipe.
Imagine going through a tiring day feeling really exhausted and then someone magically serves you this amazing Badami chicken korma with some Rumali roti beside it!
That taste, that feeling, and that excitement are what this recipe is all about. Think of Ultra-smooth, creamy, nutty gravy with so many flavors. The Mughlai influence is evident in every bite and the recipe never fails to impress anyone.
Badami Chicken Korma - My Inspiration
I clearly remember how I discovered this recipe. So, it was a terribly boring and depressing day. I don't know what was it, but nothing was going well in my life. I was having tumultuous arguments with my parents about various issues almost on a regular basis and I was just sort of irritated at that point in time.
My brother and I decided to go for a food walk across the city. At that time, I was living in Lucknow. And, what other places could be more Mughal inspired than Lucknow? right? No, wait, could Delhi be more Mughlai than Lucknow? Well, maybe but I had no way to figure it out. So, here I was with a depressed mind, irritated mood, and a hungry belly looking around for a traditional Mughlai Chicken recipe.
Finally, we came across a restaurant - I really don't recall the name of the place. But, it was in the crowded lanes of Aminabad that I felt the time had stopped. Amidst the life-like hustle and bustle, there was a small restaurant where my brother took me.
Just one bite of that gorgeous creamy Badami Chicken Korma and It was like my irritated mood was sort of calmed down. The smoothness and the creaminess of the chicken korma gravy spread itself like a soft white sheet on my palate. As I kept munching on the chicken, It was so good that I felt like I could just sit there eating, feeling each bite, and write poetry on that in that very moment. PS: OK! I guess that was a bit too much!
How to Make लखनऊवि चिकन कोरमा?
So, guys, it took me a few visits to that same place to actually find out the recipe. I kept asking them for "chicken korma ki recipe" There was in no way that they were showing me how they made it. All I was dependent upon was my taste buds and my sense. I felt like - Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. where she had to figure out the recipe for the last chocolate chip cookies that were left by Phoebe's granny. And later Joe had it! Crazy lot!
So, after lots of taste tests, I was finally able to guess the recipe. Now I knew - "chicken korma banane ki vidhi" and that too from my own experience. Therefore it was always gonna be unique and authentic.
Since it was no fancy restaurant so the recipe used simple homemade ingredients. You could feel from the rusticness of the recipe.
I later figured out - after talking to various executive chefs from top-notch restaurants that Authentic Badami chicken is an insanely easy recipe with very few ingredients.
The most important step is to dry roast almonds and cashews so that you enhance the nuttiness and then make a dry powder of that.
Next, make the chicken as you would, and then add this dry cashew and almond powder. Your recipe will be done. Easy, right?
Badami Chicken Korma Recipe
Equipment
- Non Stick Pan
Ingredients
- 500 gm Chicken with bone
- 20-25 Larges Almonds
- 15-20 Large Cashew Nuts
For the Gravy
- 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 2 large Tej Patta or bay Leaves
- 1 Medium-sized Onion finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp Ginger Paste
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Paste
- ½ Tsp Turmeric Powder or Haldi powder
- ½ Tsp Coriander Powder or Dhania Powder
- ½ Tsp Cumin Powder or Jeera Powder
- ½ Tsp Salt or as per requirement
- 1 Tsp Black pepper
- 2 Tbsp Red Chili Powder or lal mirch powder
- 1 Medum-sized Tomato roughly chopped
- 1 Tsp Garam masala
- 1 Tsp Kewra Essence
- 1 Tsp Nutmeg or jaifal
Garnish
- 2-3 Spring Coriander Leaves freshly chopped
Instructions
- In a non-stick pan add cashew nuts and almonds and dry roast them until slightly nutty.Cool it down to room temperature and ground it in a mixture without water. It should be coarse in texture.
- First, marinate the chicken with salt and black pepper.In a pressure cooker add chicken along with some water and cook it on low flame until one whistle.
- In a nonstick pan add oil. As the oil gets hot, add tej patta along with chopped onions, ginger paste and garlic paste. Sautee until the raw smell goes away.Add the dry spices - turmeric or haldi, coriander powder or dhania powder, cumin powder or jeera powder, black pepper or kali mirch powder, and salt.Fry the spices until the raw smell goes away.Add one medium roughly chopped tomato. Mix it well with the spices and cover cook on low flame for at least 5-minutes.After 5-minutes, add the boiled chicken pieces. Add 2 cups of chicken broth. Allow the curry to come to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder. Mix it well. Cover and cook on low flame for 16-20 minutes.After 15-20 minutes open the lid and add ground cashew and almond powder. Mix it well along with the chicken. Add water as per the requirement of the gravy.Once it comes to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of Kewra Essence. Grate about 1 teaspoon of Nutmeg or jaifal into it and mix well. Once your gravy has reached the desired consistency, start to serve.
- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves some more cashew nuts and serve with rice or Rumali roti or butter naan or Masala kulcha