Indian methi chicken curry

Indian methi chicken curry—chicken with fresh fenugreek leaves—is a dish traditional to a number of regions of India, each with their own take on it. It's not really a "curry" in the popular sense, in that the spices are mild and relatively minimal and the gravy lighter and less complicated to make than better-known Indian dishes. Yes, it's very easy to cook.

Not currying favour

Methi chicken curry—chicken with fresh fenugreek leaves—is another of the dishes taught to by Mrs Panday when I was still a teenager. She told me that it was dish based on Mughal cooking traditions. She was very proud of her Parsi heritage and would joke about this dish, saying that it was popular in Parsi communities, perhaps ironically, because the Parsis—or Parsees—had fled from Persia to India to escape religious persecution and the Mughals had made that same religion that persecuted them the dominant religion of those in favour in India centuries later. "So, you would think Parsis would hate it. But they did the opposite,"she said. "Never mind. It's still bloody good chicken!"

The original version I was taught was more in keeping with the Mughal cuisine originating in Central India in regions around Hyderabad—via an African Parsi diasporan kitchen. But, years later when living in London, I encountered the dish anew. This time it was cooked for me by a friend whose family roots were in the Punjab and, it turns out, the slightly simpler but creamier version is a well-known dish across Northern India.

Over the years I've taken the best of both worlds—the creamier version of the North and Mrs Panday's additional ingredients not traditionally included in the North Indian versions—to evolve my own take on it. Nonetheless, it remains a mild chicken dish, ideal for those who like Indian food but don't like fiery spice, for those who don't like the richness of other familiar mild Indian curries such as korma or makhani (butter chicken), and, for those who like simplicity. It involves far less spices than many Indian dishes loved around the world and is therefore easier to make without a well stocked masala dabba of Indian spices.

The elusive fenugreek leaf

One of the reasons I fell out of the habit of cooking the dish is that it is not always easy to get your hands on fresh fenugreek (methi) leaves in Europe, something that may be a challenge for others elsewhere. While I usually travel to one of the big Indian grocery stores to get it, even that is not reliable. In the UK it can be rather seasonal, which it's not in India where it grows all year round. I have noticed that in Asia it can be found in many markets and grocery stores, can be found on South Africa's east coast, or in Canadian cities with notable communities of Indian descent. You will need to scope it out locally.

Fenugreek is widely used in Indian cooking; as seeds, ground into spice mixes, as dried leaves or fresh leaves. In this recipe, it's used in more than one form. The flavour of each of these varies slightly. Fresh fenugreek leaves are generally held to have a bitter, earthy flavour, sometimes compared with celery. The dried and ground versions, when cooked, have a slightly more mellow flavour, a caramelised, sweet, even nutty taste. And the dried leaves have an earthy intensity.

One of the stories I find fascinating is how Indian immigrants to Canada in the 1960s and 1970s figured that they could substitute maple syrup for ground fenugreek at a time when it was not easy to find in Canada, not dissimilar to how UK Indian immigrants used HP Sauce before tamarind paste became more widely available.

A lot of recipes for methi chicken do not discuss soaking the fresh leaves in vinegar and cold water before rinsing them thoroughly. This is a trick Mrs Panday taught me that I have always used. It actually doesn't need a specialised Indian vinegar—distilled malt vinegar or white wine vinegar work perfectly—to soften the leaves and reduce their bitterness. For me, this makes complete sense because it's a dish that does not use sugar and vinegar in the cooking process to tease out that sweet-'n-sour aspect important in many Indian dishes.

That said, I think the magic bullet in Mrs Panday's recipe is its inclusion of (mild) sweet red peppers (or red bell peppers as an alternative) that bring a kind of sweetness that balances the bitter. And, it's something I do find missing in the versions that don't include them.

Kasuri methi are sun dried fenugreek leaves that are a delicacy in Indian cooking, widely used in a similar way to curry leaves to bring an earthy depth at the very end of cooking. They are never "cooked in" for a long time. The way they get used its to take a pinch of the whole dried leaves and crush gently with your fingers or by rubbing between your palms, flaking them into the pot. I'm listing them as optional because they can be a bit of a palaver to find and you will almost certainly have to go to a specialist grocer or order them online. But, I strongly recommend them because they are a great way to perk up many dishes—not just Asian dishes—and soon become part of one's must-have dried herb collection.

Battle of the herbs

Eagle-eyed aficionados of Indian food might notice that this recipe, rather unusually, contains no coriander—other than the smidgen within the garam masala. Yet, in many places, including in restaurants that have it on the menu, coriander is often used as a garnish or in other condiments with which it is served. From what I can tell, this is more common in the recipes originating in the Punjab and Northern India.

I, however, remain faithful to the teachings of Mrs Panday who insisted that in the Mughal tradition, it should be garnished with flaked almonds or flat leaf parsley. And that it should not be served with side dishes with a strong coriander element since, as another distinctive green herb, it can overwhelm the unique flavour of methi that becomes rather subtle when this dish is optimally cooked. Thus, the recipe for the mushroom bhaji (side dish) I'm serving here is one from Southern India that uses parsley rather than coriander. But, it's a matter of personal choice.

Similarly, if you want the dish to be extremely mild, leave out the red bird's eye chilli.

Them bones, them bones, them...

Regardless of the region from which a methi chicken recipe comes, almost all recipes concur that this is a dish that should be cooked with chicken with some element of bone in it, whether chicken thighs or legs or a combination thereof. Knowing it well, I agree. The plethora of recipes offered in and by those in the West who cook it with diced chicken breast, in my opinion, don't understand how this means that the chicken will be overcooked by the time the sauce is perfect, given that the chicken needs to go into the pot to have direct contact with the onions before the yoghurt and tomatoes.

There is less agreement on whether this should always be chicken with the skin on. Again, this is another lesson by Mrs Panday that I honour: it should always be cooked with skin-on chicken that has its skin side seasoned and is first partly browned, separately. Leaving the skin on brings additional flavour to the dish and helps it thicken, since reduction using sugar or flours are not deployed. Mrs Panday taught me that though one might not opt to eat the skin at table—"the dogs love it"—it works very well as a flavour enhancer and thickening agent. I prefer to do this initial browning under the grill (see below), but you can also do it in a frying pan with a small amount of oil.

Always use a full-fat Greek-style or other set yoghurt (or real Indian dahi, if available where you are) that isn't too tangy, and whisk air into it before adding to the pot. Low-fat yoghurts can "clot" and make the sauce overly watery. Conversely, the single cream is entirely optional and not used in many versions of this dish. However, if you do add the cream, don't be tempted to overdo it. You want that slight creaminess to the gravy, but it is not meant to be a decidedly rich, heavy gravy in the style of a korma or butter chicken.

This recipe serves 4 to 5 people, depending on your side dishes and condiments. Please note that the images are of my cooking it in reduced quantities compared with the recipe. If cooking it in reduced quantities (e.g. half the amount of chicken), only reduce the yoghurt, tomatoes and fresh methi by about a third, but use the same quantities of spices and other ingredients as in the recipe below.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• The timing-consuming part to this dish—the cooking itself is straightforward—is preparing the fresh methi leaves. They must be plucked (or snipped) from the stems and stalks at the base of each leaf to avoid an overly bitter gravy. Similarly, while the soaking in water with vinegar is less essential, it makes a notable difference in terms of softening the leaves and reducing excess bitterness.

• In this recipe, I am using chicken thighs on the bone with the skin on. This helps the sauce thicken. But, if cooking with skinless chicken on the bone, don't season or brown the chicken separately first. Proceed straight to browning it in the pot with the onions and spices at the point the pre-browned chicken is added in this recipe.

• It is far better to use fresh, ripe tomatoes that have been finely chopped or turned into a rough purée rather than using tinned tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes tend to cook down too quickly, giving the gravy a more intense tomato flavour that overshadows the methi added at a late stage in the cooking. Similarly, many recipes call for deseeding the tomatoes. This one does not. I simply chuck smaller tomatoes into a mini chopper, skins, seeds and all. Fibre, people!

Shopping list

for the Indian methi chicken curry

• Approx. 6 chicken thighs; on the bone, skin-on

• 2 large onions, (red or brown); chopped

• Approx. 1.5 cups fresh methi leaves (fenugreek leaves)

• 1 red sweet pepper (or red bell pepper), chopped

• 1.5 cups roughly puréed fresh, ripe tomatoes

• 1 large mild green chilli; split and deseeded

• 1 hot red bird's eye chilli; split and deseeded (optional)

• 3 or 4 tbspns sunflower oil (or peanut oil)

• 4 green cardamom pods ; bruised

• 3 whole cloves

• 3 or 4 dried bay leaves

• ½ a thumb's length of a cinnamon stick

• 2 tspns garam masala

• ½ tspn freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tspn mild Kashmiri chilli powder

• ½ tspn turmeric powder

• ½ tspn fennel seed powder (saunf); optional

• 2 tspns garlic & ginger paste

• 1.5 cups full-fat Greek-style yoghurt; whisked

• 4 tbspns single cream (optional)

• A heaped teaspoon of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves); optional

• 5tbspns white wine vinegar (or distilled malt vinegar)

• Salt, to taste

for the mushroom bhaji with parsley

• Approx. 300g large chestnut mushrooms (or other variety); cut into thick slices

• 1 large red onion (or brown); chopped

• 2 red bird's eye chillies; deseeded and chopped (optional)

• A generous clutch of flat leaf parsley; chopped

• 2 tbspns of sunflower oil (or peanut oil)

• ½ tspn brown sugar (or jaggery)

• 1 tbspn vinegar—white wine or distilled malt vinegar

• 1 tbspn of concentrated tomato purée paste

• 1.5 tspns garlic & ginger paste

• ½ tspn cumin seeds

• ½ tspn garam masala

• boiling water, as needed

• salt and black pepper to taste

more about sides and condiments

Rice, naan breads or roti are the most common carbs with which this dish is served; simply choose the one you prefer. If you're on the low-carb regime, it's also often served with lentils; firmer types of green, brown or black lentils rather than the yellow and red varieties that soften and flake.

Because this dish is a de facto celebration of fenugreek, I'm careful to serve it with side dishes that don't overshadow this wonderful herb. Thus, I tend towards things like onion bhaji or the version of mushroom bhaji that I am doing here that uses flat leaf parsley rather than coriander—and, yes, contrary to things posted on online food forums, Indian cooking does use parsley, especially in regions of Southern India, famed for their parsley chutneys.

On that front, I serve it with chutneys such as parsley chutney or onion chutney, that complement the unique flavour of methi rather than smother it in the way I find fruiter chutneys, such as mango or apricot, can do. Cucumber or mint raitha are also good options.

Cooking Method

the Indian methi chicken curry

1. Prepare your methi leaves first. You can do this up to 24hours before and store in the fridge, returning to room temperature before chopping. Place your "plucked" methi leaves in a suitable prep bowl. Add 5 tbspns of vinegar and fold in. Allow the methi leaves to soak in the vinegar for about 5mins. Add cold water to the bowl so that the leaves are fully submerged. Allow to soak for approx. 10mins. Pour off the liquid, rinse several times and drain. Once the leaves have fully drained, you can store covered in the fridge. At the start of cooking, roughly chop the leaves

2. Sprinkle the skin side of the chicken thighs with 1 tspn of garam masala, season with salt and rub into the skin. Brown the skin side under the grill (or in a frying pan). Since you only brown the skin side of the chicken, this should not be done too long before you cook the dish i.e. it's not good food hygiene to store partially cooked chicken in the fridge

3. Add the oil to a pot or kadai with a lid, heating on a medium heat. Add all the whole spices and simmer until the aromas release. Add the onions, green and red chillies and sauté, stirring occasionally. When the onions soften, add the red sweet pepper, adding a dash of water after a minute or so. Reduce the heat slightly, cover and sweat, stirring occasionally

4. Once the onions brown and the sweet pepper is notably softened, add the garlic & ginger paste and stir in. Cook for a minute or so—until the aromas release. Sprinkle in the chilli powder, ground black pepper and turmeric and thoroughly stir in

5. Almost immediately, gently add the chicken to the pot, browned skin side up. Pour in any juices from the grilling pan (you may need to add a dash of water if there are no juices). First brown the uncooked side of the chicken, then turn so that the skin side also absorbs the juices. Brown the chicken on each side, turning every minute or so until it is fully browned—about 5mins

6. Ensure the chicken is now skin-side-up in the pot. Add the tomatoes and almost immediately, the yoghurt, whipping in air with a whisk before adding . Gently mix the two together, folding in and over the chicken. As soon as the mixture begins to simmer, reduce to a low-medium heat and cover. Simmer, covered, for about 15mins. Stir gently occasionally until the tomatoes have fully cooked in and the yoghurt has been assimilated. Turn the chicken over occasionally, but don't break it up

7. When the chicken and sauce are both cooked—don't worry if this takes a little longer or requires dashes of water if the liquid cooks down too quickly—add the chopped fresh methi leaves and the fennel seed powder (saunf) —if using—to heat slightly at the top of the pot for half a minute or so, then gently fold in. Cover and simmer until the methi fully wilts and the spice is absorbed. This usually takes at least 3 to 4mins

8. Once the methi is wilted, sprinkle in the remaining teaspoon of garam masala and fold in. Add the cream—if using—almost immediately and fold in. Cook in for barely 2 to 3mins. As soon as the cream is integrated, flake the kasuri methi—if using—over the top of the ingredients, remove from the heat and re-cover. After about 30secs, gently fold in the kasuri methi, re-cover and allow the dish to rest for a few minutes

9. Plate or take to table in a serving dish and serve with your desired side dishes and condiments

the mushroom bhaji with parsley

1. Add the sugar to a cup and pour in a little boiling water and stir. Once the sugar dissolves, add the vinegar, the concentrated tomato purée paste and garlic and ginger paste and pour in additional boiling water—you want about a third to quarter of a cup—and stir together

2. Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds. As soon as the aroma releases, add the onions and chopped chillies and sauté

3. When the onions soften, add all the mixed ingredients from the cup and cook in, stirring frequently. When the onions have notably cooked down and the liquid notably reduced, add the mushrooms and stir in. Reduce to a low-medium heat, cover and sauté for about 4 mins, stirring occasionally. If the pan becomes too dry, add little dashes of boiling water

4. Once the mushrooms are optimally cooked—you want them fully cooked but still with a little bounce—sprinkle over the garam masala and stir in. When the aroma releases, season with salt and black pepper. Add the parsley and stir in. Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until the liquid cooks off and becomes more like a sticky glaze. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm until plating or taking to table in a serving dish

Alternatives

This is primarily a carnivore dish. But, while chicken is the default, methi works wonderfully with lamb and indeed traditional versions with lamb exist. The issue is that this gravy cooks optimally fairly quickly. So, the cuts of lamb that are often used in curries that benefit from longer, slower cooking are not ideal. Instead, what does work well are things like lamb shish or lamb kofte that have already been grilled/roasted, and are them added to the sauce late in the cooking, basically, just before the methi leaves are added in the cooking steps in the recipe above.

I have never attempted a vegan version of this dish—though the mushroom bhaji recipe is purely vegan—primarily because of the intrinsic importance of dairy products in this recipe. I'd simply cook a more appropriate vegan dish. Similarly, I have never actually tried a pescatarian version, but if I were to do so, I would use squid, lobster meat or crab meat, all added late in the cooking process.

However, I have certainly done excellent lactovegetarian versions. One, with aubergine, involves a similar process to the lamb options above. Grill thick strips of aubergine or Quorn fillet strips seasoned with salt and a little garam masala, basting with a small amount of oil until fairly well grilled—and, importantly, not soggy. Add to the pot just before the methi. The second involves using large pieces—and I mean large—of fennel or celeriac. Both of their flavours work very well with the methi. Add these into the pot at about the same point as the chicken in the recipe above.

Pairings

Like many curries, this dish works well with both beer and wine. I tend towards beer if having it in hot weather, generally cold IPAs or any number of lagers that work well with it. There are too many to mention, though Thornbridge Jaipur IPA was memorable with this dish.

On the wine front, obviously I'm going to suggest Chenin Blancs in general, my "old reliable" wine for chicken curries and easily available in many parts of the world. However—okay, so I openly admit a certain Mosel bias where white wine is concerned—if you want to push the boat out, I am 100% clear that Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2021 is the best pairing I have ever had with this dish.

And, other feinherb German Rieslings are very memorable not only with this dish, but others with a fenugreek accent, including Fürst von Metternich Schloss Johannisberger Gelblack Riesling Feinherb and Dr. Loosen Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Prost!