Chicken Dhansak
15m prep 30m cook 45m ready
A hearty chicken curry with red lentils, fragrant spices, and spinach. This dish stretches to feed a crowd, with a thick, flavorful sauce.
Ingredients
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 2 onions roughly chopped
- 2 frozen crushed garlic
- 6 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 frozen crushed ginger
- 2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger peeled and grated
- 3 fat green chillies left whole
- 44.4 ml garam masala
- 14.8 ml ground cumin
- 1.23 ml chilli powder
- 4.93 ml ground turmeric
- 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts chopped into 2cm cubes
- 400 g canned chopped tomatoes
- 200 g dried red lentils
- 7.39 ml salt
- 4.93 ml sugar
- 0.5 lemon juiced
- 100 g baby spinach leaves
- 1 fresh coriander/cilantro finely chopped
- cooked rice or flatbreads
Nutrition (per serving, estimated)
Estimated based off 15 of 20 identified ingredients (per 100 g food data, scaled by amount).
Vitamins & minerals
- Calcium: 389 mg
- Iron: 8.39 mg
- Magnesium: 103 mg
- Phosphorus: 558 mg
- Potassium: 1437 mg
- Zinc: 5.07 mg
Let's Prepare
Collect
Gather these ingredients - no prep needed yet.
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 2 frozen crushed garlic
- 2 frozen crushed ginger
- 44.4 ml garam masala
- 14.8 ml ground cumin
- 1.23 ml chilli powder
- 4.93 ml ground turmeric
- 400 g canned chopped tomatoes
- 200 g dried red lentils
- 7.39 ml salt
- 4.93 ml sugar
- 100 g baby spinach leaves
- cooked rice or flatbreads
Prepare
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- Crush 6 garlic cloves
- 2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 3 fat green chillies, left whole
- 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, chopped into 2cm cubes
- Juice 0.5 lemon
- 1 fresh coriander/cilantro, finely chopped
Let's Cook
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Step 1.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, and whole green chillies and cook, stirring continuously, for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and starting to turn golden brown.
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Step 2.
Add the garam masala, ground cumin, chilli powder, and ground turmeric to the pan along with the chopped chicken breasts, stirring to coat the chicken and onions in the spices. Add the chopped tomatoes, red lentils, salt, sugar, and 800ml (3⅓ cups) of boiling water to the pan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a lively simmer and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until the lentils are soft.
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Step 3.
Add the lemon juice to the pan and taste the sauce, adjusting salt and sugar if needed. Stir in the baby spinach leaves and cook for 5 minutes more, until the spinach has wilted.
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Step 4.
Stir the chopped coriander through the curry and remove the pan from the heat. Serve the Dhansak hot with cooked rice or flatbreads.
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