Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Afghan chicken qorma
The everyday stew of Afghan homes: chicken cooked in plenty of browned onions with tomato, a little yogurt and gentle spices such as coriander and turmeric. It is less hot than Indian curries and eaten with naan or rice.
Close to the base recipe MildRecipe-1 is one simple curry recipe in nine steps: fry onions and green chillies, add your vegetables or meat, add chilli powder and turmeric, then water and salt, and boil. With small changes the same nine steps make curries from all over the world.
This page takes those nine steps and shows what to change to make Afghan chicken qorma. You don’t need to read anything else first: every base step is written out below. The changes are worked out on paper from what is typical for this dish; not yet kitchen-tested. Cooked it? Tell others how it went.
Green: the base recipe step (crossed out = do not use it for this dish)Red: what to do instead for Afghan chicken qorma
See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map
The amounts change with the number of people; cooking times stay about the same (use a bigger pot for more). Taste as you go: you can always add more chilli or salt, but you cannot take it out.
Main ingredient: 1 kg Chicken on the bone.
Where a step has a red line, do the red line and not the crossed-out green base step. Steps with only green are done just as in the base recipe.
Base step: do not useCut onions and chillies.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisChop 3–4 onions; use only one or two green chillies.
Base step: do not useFry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisFry the onions slowly until deep golden brown, 10–15 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste (non-veg step A).
Base step: do not useCut the vegetable(s) of your choice.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisUse the chicken.
Base step: do not useAdd them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisAdd the chicken and fry until it turns white all over, then add the tomatoes and cook them down.
Base step: do not useAdd red chilli powder and turmeric.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisAdd ground coriander, turmeric and a little chilli powder.
Base step: do not useKeep frying until just before they start browning.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisStir in a few spoons of yogurt and fry until the oil comes back to the top.
Add some water.
Add salt.
Base step: do not useBoil until the gravy is as thick as you like.
Afghan chicken qorma: do thisSimmer until the chicken is tender and the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
Serve: With Afghan naan or chalau (plain rice).
For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.
This page is not in that language yet. More languages are coming soon.
This page is available in:
English · Deutsch · 日本語 · Español · हिन्दी · ગુજરાતી · Bahasa Melayu · Türkçe · 简体中文 · 繁體中文（香港） · اردو · العربية
More languages are coming soon.