My southern style Madras chicken gets paired with rice. I love having a veggie with every meal.
Easy Southern Style Madras Chicken
Given the Indian nature of this site, I thought I would hit things off with a good ole’ Indian curry.
This particular recipe comes right from my Mom’s cookbook. I’m sure there are variants as it’s super basic but at home, we call it Madras Chicken. Although basic, this Southern Style Madras Chicken is super tasty and user-friendly, with a spice level that is easy to adjust to your taste.
Getting Started with your Madras Chicken
An important step in this recipe is grinding up all of your spices. I personally like using our coffee grinder but make sure you wash it out first. You don’t want any coffee flavor in your Madras Chicken.
I use my coffee grinder to grind the cashews for this southern recipe.
My favorite thing about this recipe actually happens to be that it comes together WITHOUT the use of coconut milk. Now – I do love coconut milk so stop gasping. It’s great in a lot of cuisines! I just get a little tired of google searching, “X Curry” and getting 10-ish entries of, “Add x curry paste from the store, dump in a gallon of coconut milk.” Which does taste great, really it does! But, sometimes I need the seduction of creativity and maybe something that’s a little easier on the waistline. The end result ends up being a savory, comforting recipe that, I want to say, is the #1 recipe I request when visiting home.
A pot of my southern style madras chicken always fills the kitchen with a great smell.
I paired this Southern Style Madras Chicken with brown rice in the final photo because I’m told it’s good for me. That being said my family would find anything short of long-grain, white rice to be an abhorrent miscalculation. It really can go easily with any carb – white, jasmine, or basmati rice, pita bread, roti, you name it. When no one is watching, I put it on wheat toast for breakfast…but that’s just me.
Go forth and curry!
Note: I apologize for my dishonesty, EVEN with people watching, I still put this Madras Chicken on wheat toast for breakfast. #shameless
Not feeling Indian Food tonight? Try my Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana – It tastes even better than Olive Gardens!
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pictures of your creations on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok! Hashtag them #thehappyhaandi. And tag me @thehappyhaandi.
Easy Southern Style Madras Chicken
Equipment
- 1 Spice Grinder
- 1 Pot
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs Bone-In Chicken Thighs
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion (Large)
- 3 Plum Tomatoes (OR 1 canned tomatoes, diced)
- 2 whole Cloves (OR a pinch, ground)
- 8 Dry Red Chilies (Medium Heat)
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 in Ginger (OR 1/4 tsp, ground)
- 2 pieces Cinnamon (OR a pinch, ground)
- 3-4 cloves Garlic
- 15 Cashew Nut Pieces
- 3 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder (plus extra for marinating)
- To taste, Salt
- 10 stems Cilantro (Optional)
Instructions
For the Masala Prep
- Dry grind until fine the cloves, dry red chili, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cashew nuts and cumin. Place mixture in a bowl and set it aside.
For the Madras Chicken:
- Cut the chicken into small pieces and marinate it with turmeric powder and salt. Marinate the chicken for 1 hour ideally(but 10-15 minutes also worked just fine for me).
- Fry the chicken in oil until golden brown and set aside. (Don’t worry about cooking it through now, it will get done a little later on.)
- With the leftover oil in the pan, fry the onions until golden brown.
- Now, add the masala and fry for 3-5 minutes or until the raw smell comes out of the onions.
- Add the tomatoes and garlic and fry until the mixture becomes thicker.
- Add the chicken, and mix well.
- Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.
- Cover the chicken with a lid and cook on medium heat for about 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.
- Remove the lid, add salt to taste, and boil for a little longer to help thicken the sauce. (About 5 minutes.)
- Add cilantro to garnish, if desired.
- Serve with any rice, pita bread, roti, really any carb your heart desires.
Notes
- For the dry grind, I use a coffee bean grinder to break up the cashews. Food processors or any other device that blends them into a good powder would work well.
- While I think dark meat is king here, you are more than welcome to give this recipe a shot with chicken breast. I would suggest bringing the final simmer time down to about 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
The seasoning blend is amazing! I have never been able to make a successful Indian food style dish until now. So good! We felt the heat from the spice, but the recommended ratios of seasoning gave it a mild spice that could easily be amped up a notch to taste if someone were to want it hotter. The chicken cooked exactly in the time she said it would which was awesome. I stuck at cooking and need VERY specific instructions. This is literally the first ever internet recipe that came out looking like the picture!
Thanks Whitney! Glad you found the directions easy to follow and it came out perfect. Thanks for trying it!