BIR Chicken Phaal

BIR Chicken Phaal is a modern British recipe (from British Indian Restaurants) for a what is one of the hottest curries generally available in restaurants, the phaal nade with fresh naga chillies. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: BIR Chicken Phaal.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

25 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry BIR Curries Chilli Recipes Spice Recipes Chicken Recipes British Recipes

This is the British Indian Restaurant (BIR) version of the chicken phaal, the hottest curry that’s generally available in restaurants. Note that this is a really fiery chilli and will not suit most people. My tolerance for hot dishes is pretty high and I do make this now and then for the chilli hit, usually when my local grocers has naga chillies as their special chilli that week. I’ve made this version even hotter by using Scotch bonnet chilli powder (to make it less insane substitute chilli flakes for the Scotch bonnet powder.

Ingredients:

For the Spice Mix:
2 Tbsp hot Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp Scotch bonnet powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp curry mix powder
1 tsp methi (dried fenugreek) leaves

For the Curry:
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 large chicken breast, chopped into thick chunks
4 naga chillies chopped
2 birds’ eye chillies chopped
5 tbsp Home-made tomato puree mixed with 3 tbsp water
500ml (2 cups) base curry sauce or Indian restaurant curry base
1 handful chopped coriander (cilantro)
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 birds’ eye chillies, to garnish

Method:

Place a wok or curry pan over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is shimmering add the fennel seeds and stir fry for 30 seconds. Now add the ginger-garlic paste and continue stir frying for 30 seconds.

Add the chicken, increase the heat to high and continue cooking until the meat is nicely browned on all sides. At this point add the naga chillies and chopped birds’ eye chillies. Stir fry everything for 30 seconds then add the spice mix ingredients. Stir the chicken to coat in the spices and continue cooking for 2 minutes until the spices darken and turn aromatic.

Stir in the tomato purée ensuring all the ingredients are well mixed. Continue cooking until the mixture comes to a simmer. At this point stir in half the hot base gravy. Stir to combine with the other ingredients then continue simmering until you have a thick paste. Add the remaining base gravy along with the lemon juice and the coriander (cilantro).

Continue simmering the ingredients until the curry reaches your preferred consistency.

Turn into a warmed serving dish, garnish with the birds’ eye chillies and serve.