Chicken do pyaza literally means chicken with double onions! This ultimate chicken do pyaza curry with double the onion makes my day doubly happier!
One of the very popular Indian chicken curries that you will find in any Indian restaurant is chicken do pyaza. This chicken do pyaza is a frequently ordered dish in restaurants, but I never thought of making it at home! Strange me!
Couple of days back, one TV show was airing this recipe of chicken do pyaza and since then it has been tickling my brain; so much so that when one of my friends asked me to suggest one chicken curry recipe which would pair well with phulkas or chapatis, I instantaneously found myself saying chicken do pyaza!
Being an avid cook herself, she found it interesting too. And I was so pleased with myself for having transmitted my enthusiasm with this chicken do pyaza to her. That same day I prepared chicken do pyaza for our dinner.
If you want to decode the name of chicken do pyaza, it will literally mean chicken with two onions which may not make much sense. It essentially means chicken made with two types of onions or double the amount of onions than a regular chicken curry.
I must admit that I had a hard time looking for this recipe on the net. Honestly, I failed to find any good and complete recipe of chicken do pyaza; each one has something or the other missing. So, finally I made my own version of this classic chicken do pyaza and it was an instant hit in our family.
Since this is not much on the spicier side, my father-in-law enjoyed it most. My better half is generally inclined to a spicier curry, but this chicken do pyaza was successful in winning his heart too!
The two types of onions used in chicken do pyaza making this Indian curry a unique recipe are chopped onions and chunked onion. You will need about half a kilogram of onions for 800 grams of chicken.
Half of the onions are finely chopped and sautéed in the spices along with other aromatics to make the primary base of the curry. The remaining half of the onions are cut into chunks of about 1-inch size and then all the layers are separated.
These onion chunks are sautéed separately in oil until crispy and golden brown. These crispy fried onion chunks are finally sprinkled over the prepared curry at the very end of the cooking process and lightly mixed.
These sautéed chunks of onions add a hint of sweetness along with the crispiness converting the entire dish to another dimension of deliciousness!
There are uncountable Indian chicken curries and each one is unique in its own way. I have planned and would love to share all the Indian chicken curry recipes in our blog so that it can become your one-stop destination for Indian recipes.
Indian cuisine is so vast and well-spread that it could make a separate blog for itself.
If you only could think of butter chicken or chicken tikka masala when Indian food comes to your mind, then I must say that you have to open up both your mind & eyes a little more!
There are practically endless Indian chicken curries, each one being different from other.
Take this chicken do pyaza for example; you will never find anything similar to it in the huge spread of Indian curries. This chicken do pyaza is a must try and I will soon be back with more Indian curry recipes! Enjoy!
- Chicken – 800 gms, cut into curry-size pieces
- Onion – 500 gms, [approximately 8 medium sized]
- Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
- Green chilli – 1 [Add more if you want it more hot]
- Turmeric powder – ¼ th tsp
- Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
- Coriander powder – 1 tsp
- Garam masala powder – 1 & ½ tsp
- Plain yogurt – ¼ th cup
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Oil – 5 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Bay leaf – 1 or 2
- Green cardamom – 6 to 8
- Black cardamom – 2
- Cloves – 6 to 8
- Cinnamon stick – 2 inch stick
- Wash and marinate the chicken with ½ tsp of salt and pinch of turmeric. Mix well and set aside. You can marinade the chicken well in advance with ginger-garlic paste along with salt and turmeric. The longer the duration of marinate, the tastier your chicken will be.
- Finely chop 250 gms of onion. Cut the rest of the onions in big chunks and open up all the layers.
- Heat the oil in a non-stick wok. Temper the oil with all the whole spices mentioned under ‘Tempering’. Sauté for couple of minutes till fragrant.
- Add chopped onions, ginger and garlic paste. Saute them till onion turns deep golden brown.
- In the meantime, heat 1 tsp of oil in another frying pan and add a pinch of salt. Now add the rest of the onion which you have layered earlier and fry them till translucent or lightly browned. Once done, set them aside.
- Coming back to the main wok; when the onion turns deep brown, take out the bay leaf and black cardamoms. The reason for taking them out is mentioned in the next steps.
- Beat the yogurt well breaking all the lumps. You can add little water to dilute it. Add the beaten curd to the wok and stir well so that it blends properly with the onions.
- When it starts separating oil, remove the wok from fire. Now you have to blend this fried onion mixture. That’s why the bay leaf and black cardamom were taken out because those won’t taste good if blended. You may wonder about the other whole spice, but they won’t affect much.
- If you have a hand blender, you can blend it in the wok itself. Otherwise, transfer it to a grinder/blender and blend till smooth [Make sure to cool down the mixture before processing it in the grinder]. I agree this requires some effort, but this enhances the taste multiple times compared to blending the onion first and then frying.
- Once done, transfer the mixture back to the wok. Now add the marinated chicken, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, slit green chilli, salt and sugar.
- Keep sauteing till the chicken is almost done. You can cover and cook which will make the process faster.
- When the chicken pieces are tender, add little water if you feel it is too dry. The amount of water totally depends on your desired consistency of the gravy. But do keep in mind that if you plan to consume it later, the sauce will dry up when cold.
- When you get the right consistency of your do pyaza, switch off the heat. Now spread the fried onion layers on top and give a light mix. A generous amount of fried onions makes this dish superbly delish!
- You are done! Enjoy your chicken do pyaza with phulkas or chapatis.
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Restaurant Style Dahi Chicken Curry | Easy Yogurt Chicken Curry
Restaurant Style Kadai Chicken | Authentic Chicken Karahi Recipe
Chicken Tikka Masala Restaurant Style
Restaurant Style Goan Chicken Xacuti | Classic Goan Chicken Xacuti Recipe
Butter Chicken Restaurant Style | Best Ever Murgh Makhni | Not a Weightloss Recipe
Mouh main paani aa gaya.