Best EASY Authentic Pakistani Chicken Korma Recipe

Welcome to The Storied Recipe! My podcast guest, Nadia Bandukda, shared this easy authentic Chicken Korma Pakistani Recipe with us. I invite you to listen to her episode, "A Wanderer Through Life and a Lover of Spice" while you make her recipe - the best Pakistani Chicken Korma you'll find!

Nadia's Pakistani Chicken Korma recipe is so good, after the first bite my 10 year old asked if we could have it the next day for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! 

Although her Authentic Chicken Korma recipe is super quick and easy, it still uses one traditional method that sets her korma apart (and above) Americanized korma recipes. It's worth taking the time to infuse the oil in which the chicken is cooked with whole spices. If you can, don't skip this step in favor of simply adding powders later. The difference creates a far richer, more complex, flavorful, and layered dish.

While Nadia makes this recipe for Eid, her Pakistani Korma recipe is also quick enough to keep on weeknight rotations. With a little extra time for special occasions, try it with some homemade Paratha Roti.

Jump to:

• What Chicken Korma Recipe Pakistani Style Means to Nadia
• Listen to Nadia Bandukda
• About Korma: Indian vs. Pakistani-Style
• How to make Chicken Korma: Nadia's quick & easy method 
• Ingredients
• How to Make Dairy Free Chicken Korma  
• How to Make Shahi Korma
• Equipment
• Storage
• Try with Homemade Roti Canai
• More South Asian Recipes
• Food safety
• Listen to Nadia's Story
• Easy Chicken Korma Pakistan Style

What Chicken Korma Recipe Pakistani Style Means to Nadia

"It’s a classic dish in Pakistani cuisine with basic components that pack a WOW factor and truly connect me as an American born Pakistani with my roots. I’ve connected to my culture through cuisine and music like qawwali and truly enjoy the experiences I’ve had in experimenting and perfecting dishes I can be proud of."

Listen to Nadia Bandukda

As you make this recipe, I'd urge you to listen to Nadia's moving interview about her life, her Muslim faith, and the food she makes for Ramadan. This episode is a tribute to her worthy parents, who were Pakistani immigrants to America and built new lives based on hard work, charity, and faith. 

Nadia's father, in particular, was a forward-thinking entrepreneur focused on improving society one life at a time. He took a young, fearless, buoyant Nadia to his meetings in every corner of New York City and openly encouraged her - and the women in his family - to develop and use her voice.

About Korma: Indian vs. Pakistani-Style

Any Chicken Korma recipe yields a delicious dish with a creamy texture, juicy flavorful chicken, and intense flavors. But what makes a chicken korma recipe authentic? It's an almost impossible question to answer (check out "I Thought Authentic Was a Good Thing?" with my podcast guest, Shayma Saddat), but there are some general differences across regions.

• A little background - Korma was developed in South Asia during the Mughal area and comes from the word Qorma (Urdu: قورمہ), meaning "braise". So the key to any good Korma is a well-flavored, juicy protein and rich curry with lots of flavor. Quite a few ways to achieve this and that's where the regional differences come in.
• A traditional Pakistani style Korma recipe will share the common characteristics of North Indian Kormas: made with fried onions (sometimes ground with nuts into a paste) and thickened with yogurt. According to Swasthi's recipes, North Indian kormas rarely use tomatoes. 
• Southern styles also vary, but many sites suggest the Southern styles will be spicier. Truthfully, after examining many, many recipes, I don't know that this is played out. You can make your Korma as spicy as you choose. 
• Frankly, Nadia's korma recipe is a Pakistani Chicken Korma because... she is Pakistani and this recipe comes from her family. That's it. 

How to make Chicken Korma: Nadia's quick & easy method 

First, I'll provide a brief summary of steps, then answer specific questions

1. Sauté aromatic spices and onion over medium heat until softened and golden brown (3-4 minutes).
2. Add prepared chicken, garlic, ginger, and all remaining spices. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in tomato, milk mixture, and ground almonds. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until oil separates. 
4. Finish with garam masala and adjust salt to taste. Serve garnished with blanched almonds and coriander.

How to prepare the chicken for Korma? 

It's one thing to make the creamy chicken curry flavorful - but the best chicken korma recipe will actually infuse flavor into the chicken itself! There are a few ways to do this: 

• Does the chicken need to be marinated? If you're using large pieces of meat, especially bone-in chicken pieces, you'll want to marinate the chicken first. 
• Obviously, marinating is a time-consuming step. Nadia gets around this step by cutting boneless chicken into small chunks, then browning them in hot oil infused with the flavors of onion, bay leaves, and whole spices. The rest of the gravy is made with this oil and benefits from the chicken flavors released in the browning process. Finally, the chunks of chicken are braised in the final korma curry.
• I tend to grill and then freeze huge batches of brined and seasoned chicken to make weeknight meals super fast. While this method doesn't infuse the chicken with the flavors of the oil, it does give a smoky flavor to the korma, which I personally love. 

How to Thicken Chicken Korma

3 options

• Nadia uses almond flour which works perfectly. And again, this hearkens back to the authentic Chicken Korma Recipes Pakistani that use a onion, almond, and cashew paste. 
• A more authentic way: Fry onions. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil. Let onions cool, then add a few nuts (traditionally almonds and cashews), and use a food processor to grind into a paste. 
• Use thick yogurt in place of the water/cream mixture that Nadia uses. 

Ingredients

Onion - Just two points about this:

• Some suggest that traditional Northern Indian or Pakistani Kormas make an onion paste after frying onions and mixing with nuts. Nadia's recipe doesn't all for this, but you definitely don't want to skip the onion flavor. It is absolutely essential to the dish. 
• Nadia calls for brown onions. I had to double check - yes, those are the same as yellow onions 😉

Whole Spices

• Whole spices are just absolutely key ingredients in a traditional korma. The flavor of a korma depends on braising the chicken with an in a flavorful oil and sauce. 
• Nadia's calls for cloves, cardamom pods (green or black cardamom), black peppercorn, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf, garlic, fresh ginger (could use ginger garlic paste)

Chicken

• Nadia calls for 1 lb chicken, fat removed, cut into bite-size pieces. You have a few options here:
• Boneless chicken breast - dries easily, but if you're going to cook it any way, braising is one of the best ways.
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs. These are my favorites. They're the most flavorful. 
• Sometimes, I brine, season, and grill huge batches of thighs and freeze them. I will use those in Nadia's easy chicken korma recipe. Although we lose the flavor in braising, we do gain that smoky grilled flavor. I also gain in speed, which is no small benefit 😉
• Bone-in chicken whole pieces. Many kormas call for this. If you choose whole drumsticks or thighs for this recipe, that's ok. Follow the directions to brown the chicken. Once browned, remove from the pan, and complete the curry. Add the chicken pieces back into the pan, cover, and cook on low flame until the chicken is cooked through. 

Ground spices

• Nadia's recipe adds a few powders in after braising the chicken pieces: coriander, cumin, turmeric, red chili powder (Kashmiri), salt and pepper
• She finishes the dish with garam masala powder to taste

Tomato

• It's a bit controversial if tomato is a one of the key or even common ingredients for korma recipes. 
• What IS true is that the best chicken korma recipes will have an element of a tangy flavor. This can come from yogurt and does in many recipes. However, in this recipe, Nadia adds that tangy flavor through an acidic tomato.  

Thickener 

• 1 tablespoon ground almonds or almond meal/flour
• If you don't like this, use any of the methods listed above.

Garnishes

• Chopped cilantro
• Blanched or roasted almonds or cashews. Some traditional chicken kormas create a paste from onion, almonds, and cashew, so these are great flavors to work in on top as well. 
• Fried onions - either pan-fried OR deep fried crispy onions

How to Make Dairy Free Chicken Korma  

• Use coconut milk
• Nadia already calls for oil, but if you're using any other korma recipes, just replace ghee with oil

How to Make Shahi Korma

• Shahi Korma is "royal" Korma, which is just dressed up with even more rich and expensive ingredients. 
• Use the same method, but add paneer, raisins, and/or fried nuts - particularly cashews - to your preference. 

Equipment

• Nothing fancy necessary! - Any medium sized skillet will do just great here. 

Storage

• Refrigerate up to 3 -5 days (depending on how cold your fridge is) , freeze up to 3 months. 

Try with Homemade Roti Canai

How to Make Flaky Roti Paratha (Malaysian Roti Canai)

More South Asian Recipes

Food safety

We sometimes take for a granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)

Listen to Nadia's Story

While you make her Pakistani Chicken Korma!