If Your Chicken Masala Is Curdling, This Ingredient Might Be The Culprit

Chicken masala is a delicious North Indian dish made with a rich masala sauce that contains sautéed onions, tomatoes, some key Indian spices, and herbs. Two familiar Indian spices, curry powder and garam masala, which have different flavor accents, are often used in different versions of this recipe. It can be a pretty basic dish to prepare, but there is one ingredient that can make it challenging: yogurt. Varun Inamdar (@varuninamdar on Instagram), globally acclaimed celebrity chef and serial restaurateur, spoke exclusively with Chowhound to share some tips on the best techniques to prepare chicken masala while preventing it from curdling.

If you make chicken masala at home and it curdles, the culprit is the yogurt. Using yogurt to make the sauce works incredibly well for creating a richly textured and flavorful dish, but it's complicated. "Yogurt, being protein-rich and acidic, separates when shocked by intense heat or added directly into a hot masala without tempering," Inamdar told us. "It's a texture killer for a dish that should otherwise sing with silky depth." Cooking chicken masala properly depends on using the right kind of yogurt, your heat levels, and the balance of other acidic ingredients, such as tomatoes and tamarind.

At Inamdar's restaurant 27 Degrees West in Singapore, they make velvety chicken masala using their own in-house yogurt. "The culture was hand carried by me from India from my grandmother's master batch of curd," he said. "This is where my secrets lay. While cooking with it, the technique is in tempering and stabilizing." Though you might not be able to or have the time to make your own yogurt, there are some techniques for making good masala that are easily available to the home cook.

When choosing the best store-bought, high-protein yogurt, Varun Inamdar said to "always go for full-fat, thick curd preferably Hung Curd or Greek-style yogurt." Then, when you prepare your masala, use room-temperature yogurt, whisking it smooth to break down the curds before they even form. "Add a little besan (gram flour) to the yogurt before adding — it acts as a stabilizer and helps bind the emulsion beautifully," he advised. From here, temper the dish by lowering the temperature and gradually mixing in the yogurt while stirring. Mixing it in after the chicken has cooked is a good option for keeping a good texture. Balance the acids by using moderate amounts of tomatoes and tamarind.

There are a number of Indian chicken dishes that are similar to chicken masala, and they can be confused for one another. For example, chicken masala is not the same dish as chicken tikka masala, which is also separate from butter chicken. Chicken tikka masala and butter chicken are first marinated in yogurt and then cooked in a tandoori oven. In the recipe for chicken masala, adding yogurt comes later. Plus, chicken tikka masala is spicier due to its unique spice-heavy tomato sauce, while butter chicken is a mild dish.

There are many versions of chicken masala, so there are numerous preparation methods. Inamdar has great advice to help you prepare this delicious dish. "Remember, the heart of a great chicken masala isn't just the ingredients — it's the emotion behind how you bring them together," he said.