Gongura chicken is a dish prepared with chicken cooked in roselle leaves, green chilies spices & herbs. Serve this with rice or roti.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Andhra

Ingredients

  • ½ kg chicken
  • 1 ½ cups gongura leaves ((roselle leaves))
  • 3 to 4 green chilies ((adjust to taste))
  • 1 cup onions (chopped finely (about 2))
  • ¼ tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • 1 to 1½ teaspoon garam masala ((adjust to suit your taste))
  • 2 tablespoon poppy seeds paste (or 12 cashew nuts (refer notes))
  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (or as needed)
  • 1 bay leaf (or 1 sprig of curry leaves)
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 inch cinnamon (piece)
  • 1 pinch cumin (or jeera)
  • ¾ tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

Preparation

  1. Marinate chicken with ginger garlic, turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. Set this aside.
  2. Either dry roast the poppy seeds or sun dry them until crunchy.
  3. Powder them in a blender first and then add little water and make a fine paste.
  4. If you do not own a powerful blender, then you can use cashews instead of poppy seeds.
  5. Make a smooth paste with little water and set aside. This helps to get a delicious gravy.
  6. Clean the leaves and wash them in lot of water several times. Drain off aside.
  7. Saute the leaves in a tsp of oil along with green chilies. When the leaves wilt off turn off the heat.
  8. Cool and blend coarsely or smooth paste to suit your taste. You can blend it in the same jar used for poppy seeds.

How to make gongura chicken

  1. Saute cumin, cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms in hot oil in a pan, add curry leaves and onions.
  2. Fry until they turn golden. Then add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell wards off.
  3. Add chicken and garam masala. Fry on medium high heat till the chicken turns white in color.
  4. Pour enough water to cover the chicken.
  5. Cover and cook till the chicken is tender and soft cooked. Add poppy seeds paste and then ground gongura paste.
  6. Mix well and cook for about 4 minutes or till it reaches the desired thick consistency.
  7. Add more salt if needed.
  8. Serve gongura chicken curry with rice, ghee and onions.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.