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Easy Chicken Dhansak HERO
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4.75 from 4 votes

Easy Chicken Dhansak

Love the chicken dhansak you get in your local curry restaurant? Now you can make it at home with this easy peasy Homemade Chicken Dhansak fakeaway recipe!
Course Curry, Main Course
Cuisine British, Fusion, Indian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 352kcal
Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion diced
  • 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated
  • 2 cm ginger grated
  • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 400 g chopped tinned tomatoes
  • 400 ml water (use the empty tomato tin to measure this – 1 tin=400ml / 14oz)
  • 100 g red lentils
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 600 g diced chicken thigh
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped into bitesize pieces (See Note 1)
  • 1 green bell pepper chopped into bitesize pieces (See Note 1)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) roughly chopped – plus extra for garnish
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
  • Place the oil and diced onion in a flameproof, ovenproof pan (see Note 2). Cook gently with the lid on for about 5 minutes, or until softened.
  • Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, turmeric and garam masala, and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.
  • Add the tinned tomatoes, water, lentils, salt, pepper, diced chicken and chopped peppers. Stir and bring to the boil.
  • Put a lid on the pan and place in your preheated oven (see Note 2).
  • Cook the curry in the oven for 1 hours 30 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it’s not getting dry. (If it gets too dry, simply add a splash more water and stir, before replacing the lid and returning to the oven.)
  • Remove from the oven and stir in the fresh coriander (cilantro).
  • Garnish with extra fresh coriander leaves and serve with pilau rice and naan bread.

Notes

  1. Do not cut the peppers up too small or they will almost dissolve into this curry – keep the pepper pieces a bit chunky!
  2. I use a Le Creuset-style cast iron casserole dish*, (AKA dutch oven) which can go on the hob and in the oven. If you don’t have a pan that can go on the hob and in the oven, simply start this curry in a regular saucepan and then tip it into a (lidded) ovenproof dish to go into the oven.
  3. Suitable for freezing.
  4. Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition

Calories: 352kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 143mg | Sodium: 297mg | Potassium: 994mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1375IU | Vitamin C: 76mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 5mg