Dahi Chicken

Yogurt. Dahi is a traditional fermented milk product in India so I like to use just regular plain Greek yogurt for this recipe because it’s similar (just less sour) and much easier to find! You’ll use this for the marinade that will cook into the delicious sauce you see hehe!

Red chili powder for heat but don’t worry, this chicken isn’t super spicy (unless you want it to ofc) but you can add less if you really don’t enjoy spiciness.

Turmeric, for color, I sometimes sub in achiote/annatto powder hehe! Achiote isn’t used in India so go for turmeric for super traditional but if you have some of that laying around from some of my other recipes, dunk it in, it’s used for color!

Chili flakes or Kashmiri chili for super traditional.

Cumin and coriander, ground.

Salt and pepper.

Chicken. So for Dahi Chicken people usually go for drumsticks so that’s what I use but you can also make it with diced chicken breasts or thighs!

Oil, vegetable, canola or sunflower.

Black cardamom, this is a pretty smoky, earthy spice that I recommend you add in for a traditional Dahi Chicken but you can leave it out and still have a delicious sauce, if you don’t have it on hand!

Cinnamon, I use whole sticks because whole spices bloom better in oil: they don’t burn quickly and give you all the flavor. You can use ground cinnamon too but make sure to keep an eye on any ground spice you add so it doesn’t burn when you bloom it!

Cloves, whole or ground.

Garlic, paste or whole cloves.

Ginger, paste or whole, I leave it out whenever I don’t have ginger laying around but traditional Dahi Chicken has some ginger in the sauce!

Tomato, whole fresh or tomato paste if you have that on hand.

Green chilies, such as Bird’s Eye Chilis or Jwala chilies, I mostly keep chilies for topping so you could also skip them but you can also saute a couple of them with the chicken if you want it spicier!

Cilantro, fresh, for topping!

How to make Dahi Chicken

STEP ONE: Marinate the chicken in the yogurt sauce. In a large bowl or ziploc bag, add the yogurt, red chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and mix until combined. Add the chicken and coat with the yogurt sauce then cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight.

STEP TWO: Bloom the spices. Add the oil to a skillet over medium-low heat, then add the cardamom pods, cinnamon, cloves and allow to bloom for a minute or until fragrant. If using ground spices, make sure they don’t burn. If using whole spices, discard the spices once bloomed.

STEP THREE: Prepare the base of the sauce. To the spiced oil you just prepared, add the garlic and ginger and bloom for another 1-2 minutes then discard if using whole. Add the tomato (stand back as the oil will be very hot and the tomato will sizzle a lot), cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper and cook for a minute. If you want to add more spiciness, throw in some chilies too.

STEP FOUR: Cook the chicken. Add the chicken to the base of the sauce with all the marinade, you can add more yogurt if you want more sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook the chicken for 20 minutes or until fully cooked through.

STEP FIVE: Serve your Dahi Chicken topped with fresh cilantro, chilies and pair with naan, roti or rice!