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white creamy chicken recipe finished in pale golden creamy gravy in pot ready to serve

White Creamy Chicken Recipe Without Cream

Bone-in chicken marinated in a cooked onion and cashew paste with curd, then slow cooked on low flame with whole spices. The creaminess comes from cashews and curd, no cream used.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 6 People
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian, Pakistani
Calories: 560
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Paste Base
  • 3 large onions sliced
  • 8 garlic cloves
  • 1 piece ginger around 3 inches
  • 20 cashews
  • 8 green chilies
  • 70 g oil
  • 100 ml water added before grinding
For the Chicken Marinade
  • 800 g bone-in chicken pieces
  • All of the paste from above
  • 160 g home-made curd not sour
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds crushed in a mortar
  • 20 black peppercorns crushed in a mortar
Whole Spices for the Pot
  • 100 g oil
  • 3 Indian bay leaves
  • 20 black peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 7 green chilies
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 piece cinnamon around 3 inches

Method
 

Fry the Paste Ingredients:
  1. Heat 70g oil in a pan on medium flame.
  2. Add sliced onions and fry alone for about 5 minutes before adding anything else.
  3. Add garlic, ginger, green chilies, and cashews all at once. Fry together for about 3 minutes, stir regularly, until cashews pick up color at the edges and the whole mixture is deep golden.
  4. Add 100ml water and cover and cook for 4 minutes on medium flame.
  5. Let cool slightly, then blend into a thick paste. Add water one tablespoon at a time only if the blender is struggling.
Marinate the Chicken:
  1. Put chicken pieces in a bowl.
  2. Add all the ground paste, curd, lemon juice, salt, and crushed coriander seeds and peppercorns.
  3. Mix by hand until all pieces are evenly coated.
  4. Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes. Do not refrigerate during this time.
Cook the Chicken:
  1. Heat 100g oil in a pot on medium flame.
  2. Add all whole spices: bay leaves, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, green chilies, star anise, and cinnamon. Fry for 30 to 45 seconds until the oil smells of the spices.
  3. Shake off as much paste as possible from each chicken piece before dropping it into the pot. Add one by one.
  4. Lower the flame to low immediately. Cook for 20 minutes, turn pieces occasionally, until some browning appears on at least two sides.
Add the Paste and Finish:
  1. Pour all the reserved paste from the marinade bowl into the pot.
  2. Add 50g water along with it. Stir gently to bring paste and cooking juices together.
  3. Cover and cook on low flame for another 20 minutes.
  4. Done when oil pools collect and separate at the surface and edges of the pot.
  5. If gravy gets too thick before time is up, add a few tablespoons of water and keep the flame low.
  6. Serve from the pot.

Notes

Give the onions a full 5-minute head start before adding the cashews and garlic. They need more time or the cashews and garlic will brown before the onions are ready.