Chicken Shahi Korma Recipe

Name: Chicken Shahi Korma
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 585 min
Ingredients: 4 lbs Boneless, Skinless Chicken (Thighs and or/breast meat); 2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Ginger; 8 Garlic cloves (Peeled & pressed/minced); 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice; 2 Tbsp Olive Oil; 4 Whole Cloves; 1 tsp Black Peppercorns; 5 Cardamom Pods; 1 tsp Fennel Seeds; 1/2 cup Unsalted Cashews; 1 cup Chicken Broth; 1/4 cup Olive Oil; 1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar; 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon; 1/2 tsp Cumin; 1 tsp Turmeric; 1 tsp Ground Coriander; 3 tsp Crushed Dried Chilies; 2 tsp Garam Masala; 1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom; 1 Tbsp Olive Oil; 2 Onions (Finely chopped); 3 Tbsp Tomato Paste; 2 cups Coconut Milk* (Or heavy cream); 1 cup Plain Yogurt; 12 oz Paneer (Cubed); 3/4 cup Golden Raisins; 1/2-3/4 cup Cashews; 1/4 cup Chopped Fresh Parsley; 1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro

Published: Dec 6, 2020

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Chicken Shahi Korma

Originally posted May 8, 2012. Updated 12/6/2020

A plate with rice smothered in a creamy Chicken Korma.

This Chicken Shahi Korma recipe is a replica of our favourite dish at a Minneapolis Indian restaurant we used to frequent (Taste of India).
Worth the bit of effort it takes to make it!

Back when I first posted this - eight and a half years ago - I was just at the end of an incredibly busy few weeks, preparing for the release of “Twisted: A Minneapolis Tornado Memoir”.

Things had calmed down a little, so I had decided to finally blog my Chicken Shahi Korma recipe!

This had been a favourite for a while before posting.

Now that we’ve moved home to Canada - far away from the favourite restaurant that inspired it! - it’s become a VERY handy recipe to have on hand!

What is Chicken Korma?

Korma is a fairly common item when ordering Indian food, but can be vary wildly in terms of what it is.

Most commonly, I’ve seen it as a creamy curry, where the rich sauce contains pureed cashews. Aside from the pureed nuts, they tend to contain onions and other aromatics, spices, and either yogurt or coconut milk.

Chicken Korma vs Chicken Shahi Korma

While Korma is a pretty commonly available offering on Indian restaurant menus, Shahi Korma tends to be much more rare.

“Shahi” refers to the dish being “royal”, and it’s a dressed up version of a basic korma. In this case, the addition of cashews, raisins, and chunks of paneer is what makes it “royal”.

How This Recipe Came Into Existence

Chicken Shahi Korma was my absolute favorite thing to order at our favorite Indian restaurant back in Minneapolis - Taste of India. I mean, to the point where I’d never actually ordered a different entree there - I fell in love with it, and don’t tend to stray!

While we were always in the mood for some Shahi Korma, we were usually far less likely to be in the mood to deal with traffic, noise, and... well, people.

At the time, I’d been meaning to unleash one of my only useful “Autistic Superpowers” - recipe replication - on this for a while.

If I taste something, I can usually replicate it pretty easily - in terms of end product.

I’ve mentioned before that my particular flavour of autism has meant things like... looking at those “Bob is 3 years older than Susan, who is twice the age of David” kind of problems, and just knowing the answer.

I can’t tell you how I know it, it’s just sort of there.

With my recipe replication, it’s the same sort of thing. I can taste something, and just sort of spit out an ingredients list, proportions/measurements and all. It’s just... there.

Yeah, I don’t know. Brains are weird.

As a Caveat

Bit of a disclaimer: in doing this, I don’t tend to research the history, techniques, etc - I like to figure most of it out on my own.

As a result, there’s a good chance that something in my techniques- and maybe even my ingredients - could be way off ... and that’s ok. I just find that “flying blind” tends to facilitate a more accurate final result, with however it’s coming together in my head.

In the case of ethnic cooking, I have no idea which regions have different takes on a dish, and how authentic whatever I’m try"ing to replicate is in the first place.

I just know that this tastes exactly like the source material... without making any claims about that source material.

Well, you know, aside from the fact that the source material - Taste of India’s Chicken Shahi Korma - is AMAZING, and you should totally order it if you’re ever in Minneapolis!

Cover images for both "Beyond Flour" and "Beyond Flour 2"

Also, if you're interested in gluten-free cooking and baking, you should definitely check out my gluten-free cookbooks: Beyond Flour: A Fresh Approach to Gluten Free Cooking & Baking, and the sequel... Beyond Flour 2. You can order them right here on my website, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller.

More Indian Food Recipes....

Love this Chicken Shahi Korma recipe? Be sure to check out these other fabulous Indian - and Indian inspired - recipes!

Butter Chicken Recipe
Cilantro Chicken Recipe
Cilantro-Mint Chutney Recipe
Mango Lassi Popsicles Recipe
Paneer Burgers Recipe
Tandoori Spiced Chicken Burger with Mango Recipe

Anyway, on to that Chicken Shahi Korma Recipe!

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