Chutney chicken is a popular Indian dish made with a variety of chutneys, which can be wet or dry and sweet or spicy. It can be made with all parts of the chicken and is often adapted for Western tastes using canned chutneys or yogurt.
Chutney chicken is a chicken dish made with chutney, a salty and often spicy sauce popular in Indian cooking. Chicken is a very common meat throughout India and chicken chutney is an almost ubiquitous preparation. Just because two dishes are called “chutney chicken” doesn’t mean they will be the same or even similar. There are hundreds of different chutney recipes and many different regional preparations.
Most chutneys are like condiments, combining different fruits, vegetables and spices. They are often formed by pickling or simmering so that the different flavors and spices have time to infuse and meld. Some chutneys, such as mango and coconut, are predominantly sweet, while chutneys such as chilli, onion and ginger are hot and spicy. Coriander chutney and tomato chutney are more savory. Traditionally, chutneys are made fresh immediately before being used in chutney dishes.
A chutney can also be dry, more like a spice rub than a sauce or condiment. Dry chutneys usually combine the same blend of fruits, vegetables and spices as wet chutneys, but the ingredients are dried and mashed, usually with a mortar and pestle. A chutney chicken made with dry chutney is usually coated in the spice rub hours or even days before cooking and often forms a sort of crust on the chicken.
There are several ways to make chicken chutney. Dry chutney rubbed chicken is commonly baked or grilled. Wet Chutney Chicken can be prepared the same way, with the chutney added before or after cooking. Chicken is also often boiled or seared in a thick, moist chutney sauce, which can then be served over rice or traditional flat naan bread.
Indian dishes typically make use of all parts of the chicken. It is very common for various parts of chicken to be cooked together in chutneys, bones, ligaments and all. Whole chickens are also often made with chutneys, then cooked slowly until they disintegrate. Cooks will separate the chicken into portions, topping each with extra chutneys of the same or complementary flavor.
The popularity of Chutney Chicken extends far beyond the Indian subcontinent. Many cooks in Europe and North America have adapted Indian recipes such as chicken chutney to make them more accessible to cooks more familiar with the Western style of cooking. These chicken recipes usually call for boneless, skinless chicken breasts or other more readily available and easily served pieces of chicken.
Cooking with chutneys is unfamiliar to many cooks outside of India, and the lengthy process of making a chutney from scratch can be daunting. Western-oriented chicken chutney recipes typically call for canned or jarred chutneys, most of which are milder than their freshly made counterparts. The spice and intensity of chutneys can also be toned down by mixing in yogurt or making a creamier mayonnaise and chicken chutney. The resulting dishes are not typically comparable to what one might find in India, but the spirit and some of the tastes are similar.
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