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Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Jalfrezi

British Indian restaurants, United Kingdom

Jalfrezi

A stir-fried curry with peppers, onions and green chillies, popular in British curry houses.

Jalfrezi
Close to the base recipe Hot

Too hot for you? Use half the chilli (powder, paste or fresh chillies) and leave out the green chillies.

New here? How this page works

Recipe-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 Jalfrezi. 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 Jalfrezi

See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map

You’ll need

How many people?4

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: 600 g Boneless chicken (or paneer).

From the base recipe

  • 2 Onions
  • 4 Green chillies
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tsp · 50 ml Salt and water
  • 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
  • Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon not used
  • 1 tsp Garam masala (optional)

Add for Jalfrezi

  • 2 Green and red peppers in strips
  • 2 Tomatoes
  • 1 handful Fresh coriander

Leave out

  • Nothing: use it all.

The nine steps, with the changes

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.

  1. Base step: do not useCut onions and chillies.

    Jalfrezi: do thisSlice the onions thickly; use plenty of green chillies.

  2. Base step: do not useFry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Jalfrezi: do thisStir-fry on high heat. Add ginger garlic paste.

  3. Base step: do not useCut the vegetable(s) of your choice.

    Jalfrezi: do thisCut the peppers into strips.

  4. Base step: do not useAdd them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Jalfrezi: do thisAdd the chicken and stir-fry, then the peppers and tomatoes.

  5. Base step: do not useAdd red chilli powder and turmeric.

    Jalfrezi: do thisAdd chilli powder, turmeric and ground cumin.

  6. Keep frying until just before they start browning.

  7. Base step: do not useAdd some water.

    Jalfrezi: do thisAdd only a splash of water: jalfrezi is a dry stir-fried curry.

  8. Add salt.

  9. Base step: do not useBoil until the gravy is as thick as you like.

    Jalfrezi: do thisCook 10 minutes until the chicken is done and the peppers still crunchy. Add garam masala.

Serve: With rice or naan.

For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.

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Food marks, as on packaged food in India: vegetarian · non-vegetarian (meat, fish or egg). Dishes with both marks can be made either way.

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