Name: Chicken salan (On-the-bone chicken curry)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Pakistani
Ingredients: 2 red onions, roughly chopped; 3–4 tbsp corn oil; 400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes or 5 tomatoes, chopped; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 1-cm/½-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated; 1 tsp red chilli powder (reduce if required); ¼ ground turmeric; 1 tsp tomato purée (optional); salt, to taste; 1 kg/2¼ lb chicken with bones (ask butcher to cut a whole skinned chicken into 16 pieces with bone or use about 500 g/1 lb 2 oz deboned thighs or chicken breast pieces (2.5–5cm/1–2 inches large); 3–4 green cardamom pods; 1 bay leaf; 100 ml/3½ fl oz/½ cup water, plus 5–8 tbsp; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 2 green chillies, finely chopped; 1 tsp coriander (cilantro) seeds; handful of tender fresh coriander (cilantro) with stems, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr

Appears in

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree

By Sumayya Usmani

Published 2016

About

Salan means a liquid-based stew, and the closest description in English would be a thin curry. An everyday staple, chicken salan is classically made using chicken on the bone alongside onion, ginger and garlic with tomatoes and a simple combination of spice. Feel free to experiment with different spice combinations to make this dish your own. It’s best served with an accompaniment of daal, rice and a vegetable dish.