Easy Hyderabadi Style Creamy Chicken

Easy Hyderabadi-Style Creamy Chicken

Rich, aromatic, and slow-cooked to perfection, the shortcut version for the lazy? Not quite. Cooking doesn’t have to take all your time to taste this good. (Just like how I am using an AI chatbot to make this blogpost easier)

Of course some recipes demand time, patience, and multiple steps. This isn’t one of them. 

This Hyderabadi-style creamy chicken delivers deep, layered flavor with a surprisingly simple method: fry the onions, dump everything in, and let it cook low and slow. No separate marination, no complicated staging, just real ingredients coming together beautifully. One can use the microwave to speed up the process of frying the onions too.

The result? A rich, nutty, gently spiced chicken curry that tastes like it took hours of effort.

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🧂 Ingredients

Main

1. 1 kg chicken (with bones, cleaned)

2. Juice of 1 lemon

3. 2 tsp ginger, garlic paste

4. 1 tsp green chili paste 

5. 1 cup curd (whisked)

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Nut & Coconut Base

5. 10 almonds 

6. 10 cashews 

7. ½ cup fresh coconut

Grind all the above together

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Spice Powders

8. 1 tsp turmeric

9. 2 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

10. 1 tsp pepper powder

11. 1½ tsp cumin powder

12. 2 tsp coriander powder

13. 1 tsp garam masala

14. Salt to taste

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Whole Spices & Fat

15. 1–2 small cinnamon sticks

16. 1 tsp shahi jeera

17. ¼ tsp cardamom powder (or 2 pods)

18. 2 tbsp ghee

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Fresh Additions

19. 2 large onions (thinly sliced)

20. 1 handful mint leaves

21. 1 handful coriander leaves

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Optional Smoke

22. Small piece of charcoal

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👩‍🍳 Method

1️⃣ Fry the onions

Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed pot.
Add sliced onions and fry until golden brown and slightly crisp.

Remove half and set aside for garnish (optional, but recommended).

Quick Fried Onions (Microwave + Pan)

Ingredients

• 2 onions (thinly sliced)
• 2 tbsp oil/ghee
• Pinch of salt

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Method

1️⃣ Microwave

• Mix onions + 1tbsp oil/ghee + salt
• Microwave 8–10 mins, stirring once or twice
  👉 Soft, lightly golden

2️⃣ Pan finish

• Heat 1 tbsp oil/ghee
• Cook onions on medium-high 4–6 mins
  👉 Deep golden, slightly crisp

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Done!

Almost restaurant-style fried onions in half the time.

Tip: Stop at golden, they darken after removing.

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2️⃣ Dump everything in

To the same pot, add:

• Chicken

• Lemon juice

• Ginger-garlic-chilli paste

• Whisked curd

• Almond, cashew, and coconut pastes

• All spice powders

• Whole spices

• Mint and coriander leaves

Mix everything well directly in the pot.

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3️⃣ Slow cook (dum style)

• Cover tightly with a lid

• Cook on low flame for about 40 minutes

• Stir once or twice in between

The chicken will release its own juices, and the gravy will slowly turn thick, creamy, and deeply flavorful.

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4️⃣ Optional smoke (for that extra magic)

Place a small bowl inside the pot with a piece of hot charcoal.
Drizzle a little ghee over it, cover immediately, and let it smoke for 2–3 minutes.

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5️⃣ Finish

• Garnish with the reserved fried onions

• Let it rest for 5–10 minutes before serving

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🍽️ Serve With

• Naan

• Roti

• Paratha / Parotta / Chapati

• Jeera rice

• Plain rice

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✨ Tips for Best Results

• Keep the flame low to prevent the curd from splitting

• No extra water needed—the chicken cooks in its own juices

• Resting the dish enhances flavor and texture

• Bone-in chicken gives the best taste

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⚡ The Shortcut That Works

No marination.
No complicated layering.

Just:

Fry → Dump → Slow cook

And somehow, it still tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen.

My Instant Pot often comes to my rescue when time is short, yet the flavor is never compromised. You can easily substitute it with a pressure cooker and achieve the same results.

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 Instant Pot Butter Chicken (No Sauté, One-Pot)

🧂 Ingredients

Main

1. 700 g boneless chicken (cut into medium pieces)

2.  3 medium tomatoes cut into chunks (or 1 cup tomato puree)

3. 1 small onion (roughly chopped)

4. 10–12 cashews

5. 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste or 5 whole garlic cloves and 1 inch ginger

6. 1 tsp red chilli powder

7. 1 tsp coriander powder

8. ½ tsp turmeric

9. 1 tsp garam masala

10. 1 whole cardamom and 1/2 inch cinnamon

11. 2 green chilies, slit 

12. 3 tbsp butter

13. ½–1 cup water

14. Salt to taste

For finishing

13. 2 tbsp cream

14. 1 tsp kasuri methi (crushed)

15. 1 tsp sugar (optional)

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👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. Add into the Instant Pot: chicken, tomatoes, onion, cashews, ginger-garlic paste, all spices (except the green chilies) , butter, water, and salt. Mix gently once.

2. Close the lid, set valve to Sealing, and cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes. (If using a normal pressure cooker, 2 whistles on medium heat)

3. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then do a quick release.

4. Open the lid and allow the mixture to cool slightly.

5. Remove the chicken pieces.

6. Blend everything into a smooth, creamy gravy using an immersion blender or regular blender

7. Turn on Sauté (low) mode until oil separates. (Optional- a tbsp of tomato ketchup)

8. Return the chicken pieces along with the green chilies and let it simmer in the gravy for a few minutes.

9. Add cream, crushed kasuri methi, and sugar (if using).

10. Simmer for 3–5 minutes until the gravy becomes rich and glossy.

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🍽️ Done!

Creamy, rich butter chicken with less effort—perfect with naan, roti, or rice. The mint pulao goes perfectly fine with this and it is an easy recipe too.

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Lemon Rice and Pepper Chicken

Lemon Rice and Pepper Chicken (Microwave Cooking)



Thanks to Tesnima, I have one more recipe that is quick and easy and can be done in 30 minutes.

Lemon Rice


Ingredients

1. Rice – 1 cup
2. Ghee – 1 plus 1 tbspn
3. Mustard – ½ tspn
4. Green Chilly – 3 nos
5. Curry leaves – handful
6. Lemon juice – 2 tbspn
7. Coconut scraped – 2 tbspn
8. Water – 2 cups
9. Peanuts – 2 tbspns



Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes. Take a microwavable bowl and place the rice, water and 1 tbspn of ghee. Add enough salt and microwave for 13 minutes while covered.

You can fry the rest of the ingredients (mustard, curry leaves, green chilies, peanuts) in ghee either in the microwave or as normal and add to the rice along with the lemon juice and coconut.

Enjoy!




Pepper Chicken


Ingredients

1     1. Chicken – 800 gm

2     2.  Onions – 1 medium

3     3. Ginger – an inch

4     4. Garlic – 6 cloves

5     5. Green Chilly – 3 nos

6     6. Pepper – 1 tbspn

7     7. Soya sauce – 2 ½ tbspn

8     8. Tomato Sauce – 1 tbspn

9     9. Vinegar – 2 tbspn

       10. Coriander leaves – handful

       11. Oil – 2 tbspn

1     12. Cornflower – 1 ½ tbspn

Wash and drain the chicken well. Add sliced onion, ginger and garlic along with the oil to the chicken. Microwave covered under high heat for 3 minutes. Remove and add the rest of the ingredients and again microwave covered at high for another 3 minutes. Remove and add the cornflower mixed in ¼ cup water. Microwave uncovered at high for 3 more minutes.

Pepper chicken is ready..

Brinjal Pachadi

Realized that I am yet to post one of my favourite pachadi recipe which my mother used to prepare. I now make this frequently and it is very tasty.

Brinjal Pachadi

Ingredients

1.Brinjal sliced in circles - 1 or 2 depending on the size (immerse the sliced brinjals in water and wash well)

For the marinade 

1. Chilly powder - 2 tspn
2. Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
4. Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tspn
4- Salt as per taste

Adjust the above according to the amount of brinjal. Shallow fry the brinjal until well browned.

To prepare the curd

1- Onion - 1 number
2. Green Chilly - 1 or 2 depending on your taste
3. Ginger  a good size

Chop the above and mix into the curd with enough salt. Now add the fried brinjal and mix well.

The pachadi is ready.

Mint Pulav with Potatoes

This is another easy but a very mild rice recipe. Maybe it is the cumin but it settles on your stomach pretty well.

Ingredients

 

1. Dry roasted cumin seeds coarsely crushed - 2 teaspoons (or more if you don't mind the taste)

2. Onion thinly sliced - 1 small
3. Potato, peeled and cubed - 1
4. Minced/grated ginger - 1 Tbspn
5. Green chilly minced/cut finely - 1 or more as per your taste
6. Uncooked Basmati rice soaked in water for minimum 15 minutes- 1 1/4 cups

7. 1/4 cup of min leaves crushed or cut
8. Water - 2 1/4 cups

Method

Dry roast the cumin and crush it coarsely. Heat oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until brown. Saute ginger and green chilly for a few minutes and then add potato and half the mint along with a teaspoon and half of cumin. Saute for a while. Add the drained rice and fry it for a minute before adding water. Add enough salt (1teaspoon) and close the lid when water boils. Leave it thus in low fire for 10-15 minutes. Stir the rice gently after adding water to avoid breaking the rice. Sprinkle the remaining cumin and mint on top before you serve.

Enjoy!

 

 

A Quick Vegetable/Egg Curry

As mentioned earlier, I do not like to spend too much time in the kitchen and always prefer recipes that are not time consuming. Most of my recipes are thus but last Saturday I needed an extra easy one since my daughter had extra classes in the morning and being a holiday, I overslept. Having frozen vegetables and egg is a plus point during such times. A pressure cooker also comes handy and it ensures that you lose less nutrients.

And being an egg family, most vegetable curries end up with a few eggs! I have a microwaveable appliance which lets me boil eggs while the curry is cooking.

This is where the eggs get cooked while inside the Microwave Oven

Quick Vegetable/Egg Curry

Ingredients

1. Frozen vegetable mix - 1 and 1/2 cup
2. Potato - one medium (cut into big cubes)
3. Tomato - one medium sliced
4. Crushed Garlic and Ginger - 1 tbspn
5. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
6. Coriander powder - 1 tbspn
7. Garam Masala powder - 1 tspn
8. Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
11. Coconut powder - 2 to 3 tbspn
12. Green Chilly - 2 sliced
13. Small onions - 4 sliced 
14. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
15. Curry Leaves - a few

Method

Take a pressure cooker and add a tablespoon of oil. Saute the crushed garlic/ginger until the raw smell leaves. Add the rest of the ingredients except 14&15 with one and half cup of water and enough salt. Close the cooker and turn the heat on high until the first whistle. Leave it on simmer for 5 minutes and switch off the flame. 

Heat a tablespoon of oil and let the mustard crackle. Add the sliced onions and curry leaves and fry until brown. Open the pressure cooker (make sure it has cooled down or cool it by holding the bottom of the cooker under the tap water) and add the seasoned oil. The curry is ready in less than 15 minutes! Now enjoy with chapatti or bread.

Eureka Chicken Curry

This chicken curry is from the Facebook Group Ammachiyude Adukkala. The author claims that he invented it due to lack of time. And if lack of time is your problem, then this is a very easy recipe.

Eureka Chicken Curry

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 1 Kg (Cut into medium pieces and drained well)
2. Kashmiri Chilly Powder - 2 Tbspn
3.Coriander Powder - 2 Tbspn
4. Pepper Powder - 1 Tspn
5. Garam Masala - 1 Tspn
6. Onions - 2 cut into cubes
7. Tomato - 3 cut into cubes

8. Capsicum - 2 cut into cubes
9. Green Chilly - 4 sliced
10. Garlic - 8 cloves minced
12. Curry leaves - a bunch
13 Coriander leaves - a bunch

Method

Mix the chicken along with 2-10 ingredients and place it in a pressure cooker along with 1/2 cup of water. Put the flame on high until first whistle. Lower the flame and let it cook for 5 minutes. Take a pan and put 2 tablespoon of oil. (I used my favourite coconut oil). Fry the curry leaves until the beautiful aroma pokes your nose! Open the cooker if it has cooled down and pour the contents into the pan. Fry in high flame until the curry is dry enough. Add the chopped coriander leaves and enjoy!

Chicken in Garlic and Bell Pepper Sauce

Every time I cook chicken, I find that the ingredients are almost similar and you come with almost the same taste. (So my kids tell me!). But yesterday our son finally agreed that the chicken curry tasted different and was tasty. So here goes this recipe which has minimum spices.


Chicken and peas in Garlic and Bell Pepper Sauce

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 500 gm ( I used breast pieces cut into cubes)
2. Cumin powder - 1 tspn
3. Bell Peppers - red or green - 1 number
4. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
5. Green Chilly - 1
6. Vinegar - 2 Tbspn
7. Tomato paste -2 Tbspn
8. Tomato - 1 medium
9. Garlic - 6 cloves or more if you like the taste
10. Cream - 1/2 cup
11. Peas  - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method

Grind ingredients 3 -9 with vinegar. Fry the chicken and peas with cumin until it is dry. (You may add other vegetables too along with peas. It still tastes good and would be nutritious too)
Add the paste and fry for a while.  Now add 1 cup of water and cook for 10 minutes. Finally add the cream and let it simmer until the gravy has reached the desired thickness. Enjoy!

Lemon pickle made easy

In my kitchen everything has to be easy. It is such recipes that catch my interest. A working mother cannot spend her entire time in the kitchen. But I have devised ways to reduce time and still churn out most dishes.

Lemon Pickle

Ingredients:

Lemon---2 numbers
Red chilly powder---3 Tbspn
Asafotida---1 Tspn
Fenugreek powder---1 Tspn
Salt----2 Tnspn
oil---1 Tbspn

Method:

Wash and cut the lemon in to small pieces. Dessed the lemon.  Add all the other ingredients to it. Mix well and cover it.  Keep it in the pressure cooker and cook it for 3 sounds.Take it out.
Heat the oil. Pour the oil over the lemon and mix well.
Pickle is ready.

If you have more time, you can splutter mustard seeds and fry some small onions and curry leaves too.