If you are a regular at cooking or love experimenting while cooking, you'd know how even one ingredient can make or break a dish. Cooking is an art which requires patience, precision and skills. An Indian curry is one of the most versatile things we have ever had, if made with the right amount of ingredients and with appropriate time in hand. While it may sound easy to make a curry, certain small errors can ruin the dish completely. Chicken curry is one of the most popular non-vegetarian dishes and something that can go wrong very easily. Imagine you’ve got guests at home for dinner and the star dish of your menu goes wrong, because the size of your chopped onion was too big. Yes, this could be one reason. The reasons can vary though. It may be as small as the way the spices have been added- whole or ground, to the timing of when they were added. The factors can also include the thickening agent you use for your curry or the quantity of it. These are a few factors that may make your chicken curry fall short.
But don’t worry, we’ve got certain tips and tricks that will definitely come in handy to ace your chicken curry game.
1. The Curry Base
A lot of us might not know the right order to make the base of our curry and that can lead to a problem. The right order for a curry base should begin by oil, followed by whole spices, which should be fried just until it is fragrant (make sure to not burn them), then add onions that are cooked further until they turn brown in colour, and finally the ground spices, salt, ginger, garlic, and green chillies. All these should be mixed well and cooked for about 30 seconds to one minute on low to medium flame.
2. Smell The Curry While Cooking
Cooking is a sensory experience so make sure to put your sensory powers to good use. As you cook, smell the dish at regular intervals. You will discover how each ingredient makes a distinct difference to your curry. Spices, for instance have a peculiar fragrance, on the other hand, onions smell slightly sweet which indicates that it's ready to be cooked with the ground spices.
3. Salt Is Key
The quantity of salt is something we all have faced difficulty with. More often than not, we do not realise how much is too much and how less is too less, and what is just enough. While less salt can be adjusted even after the dish is cooked, excess is the issue. So, in case you’ve added more salt, simply add a peeled, raw potato and let it cook for a while, instead of water. The potato will soak up some of the excess salt, and you may save your curry from ruining. Also, while cooking chicken curry, many people use marinated chicken which already has good amount of masala, it is always ideal to use less salt in the curry.
