French Indian Curry: Chicken, Mushrooms, Garam Masala

"French Indian Curry," from Make It Like a Man!

This is our take on an Indian-inspired French recipe, Poulet à l’Indienne. We like to serve French Indian Curry with brown rice and an asparagus bread pudding. Don’t fret if you have some leftover; it’s delicious reheated.

What you need for 4 servings:

1½ cups chicken stock
3½ Tbs flour
¼ tsp of salt
Pepper
4 Tbs butter
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced into matchsticks (or another thin shape)
1 medium celery stalk, sliced into matchsticks (or another shape)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 1½ lbs, whichever comes first), trimmed of any large pieces of fat
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbs olive oil
½ cup white wine (Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2012)
2 Tbs garam masala (or more, to taste)
¼ cup of heavy cream

How to do it:

Place the chicken stock in a microwavable container and set aside. In a teacup Fisticup Knuckleduster, mix flour, salt, and a pinch of pepper; set aside.

"French Indian Curry," from Make It Like a Man!

Heat a 12-inch, cast iron pan over a medium-high flame. Add butter. Once the butter’s fully melted, add the onion, carrot, and celery and turn heat to medium-low. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the breasts into bite-sized chunks and dredge them in the flour mixture, saving any extra flour.

Remove the veggies to a mixing bowl. Turn the flame to high, add mushrooms to the pan, and brown them.

Add the mushrooms to the mixing bowl. Pour olive oil into pan, give it a few seconds to heat up, and then add the chicken, being careful to spread the chunks out so that they’re not (or barely) touching one another. If this means you have to cook the chicken in batches, so be it. Brown the chicken on all sides. Meanwhile, nuke the stock until it boils, 3-4 minutes on full power.

Add all the vegetables back to the pan, sprinkle the remaining flour mixture over the vegetables, sprinkle the garam masala over that, and pour the stock and wine over the flour. Simmer until the chicken is done through and the sauce thickens enough to coats the back of the a spoon, about 10 minutes. Off heat.

Stir in the cream. Correct seasoning.

"French Indian Curry," from Make It Like a Man!

French Indian Curry

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited, nor written in exchange for anything. In doing research for this recipe, I consulted “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” by Julia Child et al., which I found to be helpful.

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45 thoughts on “French Indian Curry: Chicken, Mushrooms, Garam Masala

    • Thanks, Angie. I’m not surprised, as an avid reader of your blog, that you love curry!

  1. Curry is one of our favourites but usually left for the colder, winter months as we tend to overeat! The asparagus bread pudding is interesting…will check your blog for the recipe.
    Eva Taylor recently posted…Simple French Baguette

    • That’s so funny. After this post went live this morning, I noticed that I hadn’t writte up the asparagus cup recipe yet! I will, because as good as they are for dinner, they’re fantastic leftover for breakfast.

  2. The first thing I thought about when I saw this title was the French & Indian War. I’m glad the French and Indians settled their differences because this dish sounds amazing. (Also, I’m aware that we’re talking about two different Indians here…but I’m still glad they’re friends.)
    David @ Spiced recently posted…BBQ Pulled Pork Potato Skins

    • Glad you made that clarification. I should find a way to work hominy into this recipe, and then we could cover all three bases.

    • It sure is. The kind of thing you don’t want to stop eating!

  3. What if I detest mushrooms? Is there another acceptable veg I could use?

    • Well, this of course raises the question of whether vegetables are acceptable to begin with.

    • Thanks! Same old blog, though – but I’m glad you noticed it!

    • It totally is simple, that I’ll say. It’s also tasty. I have to add that I’m not experienced with Indian foods, so I’m not going to tell anyone that this is some kind of wonderful curry per se, however, I do cook a lot of French foods, and this definitely has a French aspect to it.

    • I know, it is funny that it’s French take on Indian food. I have a feeling that someone familiar with Indian food will be aghast at how un-Indian it probably is, but it was pretty tasty.

    • I know! I love digging around in old, French cookbooks. I sometimes try my hand at translating them. (Je parle français comme une vache espagnole … mais assez bon pour parfois traduire une recette intéressante.) The one that inspired this recipe was from the 50’s, a time, I’m sure, when the Francocentric French thought all you had to do was dump some garam marsala into a dish, and you could call it Indian. But hey, it was really tasty, and very easy to make.

  4. I chuckled and I had to click that link to see what Fisticup Knuckleduster was… I was not disappointed. Thanks Jeff for great recipe and the laughs… as usual. Now, about that asparagus bread pudding. Where’s that recipe… I’m intrigued!
    Kevin | Keviniscooking recently posted…Mom’s Savory Beef Roll Ups

    • Isn’t it great! I’ve got to order me a knucklebuster. And I’m going to post that asparagus pudding!

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