Chicken Shobuz Masala has always been a favourite dish of mine when ordering from a takeaway or in a restaurant.
However, when I came to cook it at home, I drew a complete blank when making an online search for the dish!
I think it’s a bit of a regional dish in the UK. I know several places have Shobuz Masala on the menu in Sheffield and have also come across it just across the border in Chesterfield. Could I find a recipe for it though? Nope, nothing!
I didn’t let that put me off though. I knew how it tasted and had the restaurants description to go on. I also found that the word Shobuz seemed to refer to the colour green. And that’s how I remember the flavour. It has that herbaceous flavour that you get from green chillies and peppers and a slight bitter, pungent flavour that you get from Kasoori Methi or dried fenugreek leaf, as it’s also known.
Some people may have seen my versions of Shobuz Masala in a few of the Facebook curry groups. This is the third version, and it’s so easy as it’s made of a few different elements. A caramelised onion and spice paste, a green chilli paste and blended tinned tomatoes (or just chopped tinned tomatoes if you wish).
It’s also easy to adapt to your own taste. Add more, or less chilli to suit and you can make it with more, or less tomato. If you use more tomato, then you won’t have to add as much water. Use less then add more water or stock, and a little yoghurt will help thicken it, if you wish. At the end of the day, you’re eating it so cook to your liking. A recipe is just a guide.
Incidentally, I’ve put in the recipe to use 1 x 400g tin of tomatoes, ideally it needs 600g. It’s up to you if you want to use 600g and have half a tin of tomatoes left or use 800g. It will just be a bit more tomatoey! Or you could just double everything up and use 3 x tins of tomato, which is what I did for this, using 3kg of bone in thighs. It meant enough left over to feed us all another night.
The Hotel Curry Gravy Masala used in this recipe is a special blend of aromatic spices that are used to make a thick curry gravy used as base to make many curries. You can make it without or use your own spices to your liking. The onion paste and blended tomato is a deconstructed hotel gravy. If you wish you could use a hotel style gravy. You could also cook this BIR style with a base gravy. Just precook the chicken in the gravy and use instead of the onion paste and tinned tomatoes. A little tomato paste may also help if you follow this method. There is more on the different types of curry gravies on my blog – Easy Curry Sauce Recipe, if you want to read further.
Of course the Curry Masala blends used in this recipe are available to buy from www.omemade.co.uk.
So here is my recipe for Chicken Shobuz Masala.
Chicken Shobuz Masala
Ingredients
Caramelised Onion
- 3 medium onions, peeled and sliced.
- 3 tbsp oil (sunflower, vegetable, rapeseed or ghee)
- 2 tsp garlic & ginger paste
- 3 tsp Hotel Gravy Curry Masala
Green Chilli Paste
- 6 green finger chillies more or less to taste
- 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander stalks
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi/dried fenugreek leaf
- 0.5 tsp Naga pickle optional
The Curry
- 1.5 kg chicken thighs on the bone, skin removed or 1.2 kg of boneless
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp garlic & ginger paste
- 1 tbsp BIR Curry Masala or mix powder or mild curry powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 400 g tinned tomato blitzed in a food processor or hand blended 'till smooth.
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi/dried fenugreek leaf
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt or to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander roughly chopped
Instructions
Caramelised Onion
- Heat the oil in pan. If you have a good non-stick pan, you will be able to cook the onions on a slightly higher heat, so they caramelise quicker. If using a normal pan, cook on a lower temperature, stirring often.
- Add the onions to the pan and cook until a nice deep brown colour, sticky and soft. Keep scraping the bottom of the pan to release the caramelised juices.
- Add the garlic and ginger for about 40 seconds then add the Hotel Curry Masala. Cook for a further 40 seconds and then take off the heat.
- put the mixture in a metal sieve over a bowl to drain off the excess oil (don't throw away the oil, it will be used to cook the curry!)
- When the mixture is cool enough, blitz it in a food processor to a smooth paste.
Green Chilli Paste
- Put all the ingredients for the chilli paste in a food processor or blender and blitz 'till smooth.
The Curry
- heat the oil, including the reserved oil from the onions in a large pan. When hot add the garlic and ginger and cook on a low heat for around 40 seconds.
- Add the Curry Masala and Kashmiri chilli and cook for another 40 seconds, stirring so the spices don't stick and burn.
- Add the onion paste and fry for about 30 seconds.
- Add the green chilli paste and again fry for about 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat with the spices and seal. If the spices start to stick you can add a little of the blitzed tomato to loosen it all. Once the chicken is well coated, sprinkle with salt and put a lid on the pan to cook on a very low heat for around 10 minutes.
- Take the lid off the pan and add the tomato. Stir and add enough water to not quite cover the chicken pieces. Bring to a simmer and put the lid back on. Continue to cook on a low heat for around an hour, stirring occasionally. If it's starting to look a little dry, add more water.
- After an hour, remove the lid. Continue to cook to your liking. I like to cook it so the chicken is practically falling off the bone.
- About 10 minutes before serving, check for seasoning and add salt to taste. Add the garam masala, sugar, and dried fenugreek leaf, rubbing it in your hand as you add it to release the flavour. Finally add the fresh coriander and serve. This is great with Indian bread which can be used to mop up the spicy gravy but is equally as good with rice… or both!