Chicken and Apricot Masala Recipe (2024)

The spices have to be bloomed in oil or your they are gritty. The onions have to be caramelized to add depth to the dish. Fewer tomatoes makes it less sweet.
2 cups of water is too much liquid.

My first reaction to all the complaints of "blandness" and "too much liquid": Is it possible that the sauce was not cooked down (reduced) enough during cooking? Step 4 even hints at preventing this: during last part of cooking, remove the lid (which allows more liquid to cook away). This is a highly spiced dish and no way should it taste bland. You could also remove the chicken when its fully cooked and boil down the sauce until thick and flavorful enough to suit your taste.

Why dilute tomato paste, typically used as a thickener? Instead, just use a good quality 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice.

Interestingly, "Santa" gave me some dried apricots from the Indian grocery this year: tiny, rock-hard - I'm guessing that's what's really intended. Followed many suggestions: 3x the ginger, same amount of spices. With cinnamon stick in the pan, browned the chicken in the oil first, removed it, then bloomed the spice mixture in the drippings, then added onions. Chicken back in, 24 oz can diced tomatoes w/juices, apricots w/liquid, a few TB heavy cream. Very good!

I too have been making this for years. It's a favorite. I pretty much follow the recipe as is with the exception that I cut the apricots in half. More pleasant to eat the smaller pieces.

I've been making this for years and was surprised to read some of the less enthusiastic comments - it always gets raves. Unlike some others, I think it's important to soak the apricots for as long as possible - by the time it's cooked, they melt in your mouth. It's true that there is a lot of liquid, but we like it with rice, Israeli cous cous, or crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.

I eliminated the tomatoes, since ripe ones in the winter are hothouse & cardboard. I just used a 28 oz diced tomatoes with juice, eliminated tomato paste & water. Received rave reviews at my house!

I agree about the need for cilantro: it brightens the finish. Incidentally, this freezes really well.

Of course I couldn't help making some modifications: I doubled the spices, garlic, ginger. I used whole cumin and coriander seeds. I roasted those seeds first, and then ground everything in a mortar. I withheld half the spice mixture and added it at the end. I didn't soak the apricots, but chopped them and added them 10 minutes before the end. I used a 28 oz can of tomatoes, instead of fresh tomatoes and tomato paste. I only added a cup of water. The result was excellent.

I loved this dish. We doubled the spices and put potatoes and carrots in to soak the liquid and make it a one pot meal. It was great!

Typically, it seems that chicken in Indian curry-like dishes is not browned— just left to simmer in the sauce "until done". Agreeing with others, I prefer to brown it.

Forgot to say I used canned Italian tomatoes rather the fresh and used the sauce from them instead of tomato paste and water.

made this dish few times alwsys good

Loved this dish . I did it without the chicken but added grilled eggplant , zucchini, and onion and kalamata pitted olives and used it as a side dish

Cut back on the apricots . Use the spice mix without the cloves . Sauté the onions and tomatoes. Add the spices and mix on Grilled eggplant and zucchini and kalamata pitted onions . Nice side dish

- Chicken Stock not water- bloom spices- more heat (spicy) to balance the sweet- be sure to salt itBrowning the chicken, releasing the fond into the onions, and then getting the onions a bit caramelized also would help.

sounds wonderful

A half recipe was made to serve three.A Hungarian wax pepper ,diced was added.Using black cardamom pods added a nice flavor, especially when they popped when bitten. Removed the cover at 15 minutes and the liquid reduced into a lovely thick sauce. A new favorite as we liked the sweet heat of the dish.

I used dried cranberries in place of apricots, because that's what I had. I didn't soak them first. I added them dry, along with 2 cups of chicken broth, so the amount of liquid would be the same. I upped the amount of garlic and ginger. I added 3-4 fresh sliced serrano chilis instead of the dried peppers. Excellent dish.

We added fresh apricots with the cilantro as a garnish and was AMAZING. Perfect amount of liquid. If you like it spicy add more pepper flakes or cayenne

Satisfying dish. I added 3 carrots , 2 sticks of cinnamon, used can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes, and used chicken bone in thighs instead of boneless as it is more flavorful but this increased to cooking time additional 20 minutes

Mixed masala spice blend in 1/4 oil instead of water. Diluted tomato paste in apricot soaking liquid instead of water.

Made this last night and it was wonderful! Next time, I might use a spicier hot pepper (used Pimento d'Espelette) and definitely less oil. But a winner, even for this "I don't like apricots" person (tho I think I've outgrown that sentiment!)!

The flavors of this dish were deep and it was a big hit in our family. We sprinkled roasted peanuts on the top and substituted chicken breast for thighs. I highly recommend.

This recipe definitely needs adjusting. I almost tripled all of the spices and cut back on the chicken (only used 2 lbs). I cut the apricots in half and soaked them in boiling water for an hour - dumped out what was left and soaked them in room temp coconut milk for an additional couple of hours until we were ready to cook. I also added chili powder, turmeric, paprika, and Garam masala. Simmer for as long as possible! Totally yummy after all of that extra work though!

This is very sweet and watery. Not for me.

I read the reviews and agree with the folks that say be sure to REDUCE. I didn't alter any of the ingredients. I did however, caramelize the onions which tacks on an additional 30 minutes. When the chicken was cooked I removed it and reduced the sauce for an additional 30 minutes. This led to a much richer flavor and my family loved it. For extra richness you can add in a little heavy cream at the end but it really isn't needed.