Achari Murgh (Achari Chicken)

Achari Murgh (Achari Chicken) is a traditional British Indian Restaurant (BIR) recipe for a classic curry of chicken in a base curry sauce flavoured with pickling-style spices and mixed pickle or lime pickle. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Achari Chicken (Achari Murgh).

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

35 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry BIR Curries Spice Recipes Chicken Recipes British Recipes

Atchar refers to South Asian pickles, or, more specifically Hindustani-Urdu speaking areas. So, Achari Chicken refers to chicken curry cooked and flavoured with pickles and pickling spices. This is a mainstay of the British Indian Restaurant (BIR) style of cookery. It results in a salty and tangy medium-strength curry bursting with flavour. Note that as pickle types vary widely due to the spicing from north India to south India and east to the Bay of Bengal, the flavour of the dish will be dependent on the pickle you use.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp garlic paste
600ml Base Curry Sauce (either base curry sauce or Indian restaurant curry base)
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
2 1/2 tbsp mixed pickle or lime pickle, chopped (+1 tbsp to garnish)
800g Indian cooked chicken or tandoori chicken
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

For the Spice Mix:
1 tbsp mild curry powder eg madras curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp vinegar

Method:

Place a pan or wok over high heat. Add the ghee and allow to get hot. In the meantime, blend together the spice mix ingredients with the vinegar and enough water to form a loose paste. Once the ghee is hot add the cumin seeds and fry for 15 seconds.

Immediately add the garlic paste, reduce the heat and cook for 1 minute. As you add the paste, you will need to take the pan off the heat otherwise the garlic will burn.

Stir in the spice paste and cook for 2 minutes until it thickens. Add the base curry sauce and tomato ketchup, stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped pickle then add the chicken and stir well to combine. Stir-fry the mixture for 5 minutes then add the garam masala, coriander stems and season to taste with salt (be careful as the pickle is usually quite salty).

Continue cooking for about 5 minutes until the chicken is completely heated through.

Turn out into a serving dish, garnish with the coriander leaves and a tbsp of the pickle.