Hairy Bikers Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe

This Hairy Bikers chicken jalfrezi is a two-pan stir-fry where the chicken cooks in a spiced tomato sauce while the peppers and onions char separately. Six green chillies, cumin, and garam masala go in from the Great Curries cookbook, serving 4 at around 460 kcal in about 30 minutes.

The headnote says “jalfrezi means hot-fry” and calls it “a fantastic dish of chicken stir-fried with lots of green chillies and garlic.” Four chillies get chopped fine to melt into the sauce, while two go in split whole for flavour without too much fire.

Do not let the garlic burn at step 2, because the cookbook warns it will “add a bitter flavour to the sauce” that you cannot fix. Keep the heat high but stir constantly for those first 3 to 4 minutes, and everything else falls into place.

Hairy Bikers Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Stir frying Cuisine:British Indian Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 10 minutesCook time: 20 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time: 30 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:460 kcal Best Season:Winter

Description

Chicken breast chunks stir-fried with chopped green chillies, garlic, tomatoes, and spices in one pan while onion wedges and green pepper char in another. The two get tossed together at the end for a fresh, crunchy finish.

Ingredients

For the sauce

• 6 long green chillies
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 tbsp sunflower oil or ghee
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 5 fresh ripe tomatoes, 3 chopped and 2 quartered
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp flaked sea salt
• 200ml cold water
• 2 tbsp plain natural yoghurt

For the stir-fried vegetables

• 1 medium onion, cut into 12 wedges
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks

Instructions

1. Prep the chillies and chicken: Finely chop 4 of the green chillies, deseeding them first if you do not like it very hot. Split the other 2 from stalk to tip on one side without opening them. Cut each chicken breast into 6 or 7 bite-sized chunks.
2. Stir-fry the sauce base: Heat 6 tablespoons of oil in a large deep frying pan or wok over a high heat. Add the garlic, chopped chillies, chopped tomatoes, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, sugar, and salt. Stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes until the tomatoes soften, stirring constantly so the garlic does not burn.
3. Cook the chicken: Add the chicken pieces and the 2 whole split chillies. Cook for 3 minutes, turning the chicken often. Pour in the water, stir in the yoghurt, and reduce the heat slightly. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
4. Stir-fry the vegetables: While the chicken simmers, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a clean frying pan. Stir-fry the onion wedges and green pepper for 2 minutes, then add the quartered tomatoes and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes until charred but still crunchy.
5. Toss and serve: Stir the hot vegetables into the chicken pan, toss everything together lightly, and serve straight away.

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FAQs

Why stir-fry the vegetables in a separate pan?

Because if you cook the onion and pepper in the same pan as the chicken, they go soft and lose their crunch. Frying them separately over a high heat gives them charred edges and a bite that cuts through the spiced sauce.

This two-pan technique is what makes a jalfrezi feel fresh and lively rather than stewed. The sweet and sour chicken on this site uses the same approach, stir-frying the vegetables separately so they stay firm when everything gets tossed together.

Is there a healthy low-fat diet chicken jalfrezi version?

Yes, and the Hairy Dieters cookbook brings it down to just 279 kcal per serving. The recipe is almost identical, but the oil drops from 8 tablespoons to 2, and it uses low-fat yoghurt instead of regular.

The only other change is a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with water stirred in at the end, because less oil means less body in the sauce. Everything else stays the same: same 6 chillies, same spices, same two-pan method. The Dieters headnote calls it “a culinary triumph for curry-loving dieters,” and the fact that only the oil changes tells you the full version was already a lean recipe underneath.

How hot is this compared to a korma or tikka masala?

Hotter than both, but not as fierce as a vindaloo. The heat comes from the 6 green chillies, and you control it by how many you deseed. Leave all the seeds in and it burns properly, or deseed all 6 for something warm but not painful.

The 2 whole split chillies add flavour without much extra heat because the seeds stay trapped inside. The cookbook says “don’t eat the whole chillies” at the end, which is good advice. The chilli salad bowls on this site use cumin, coriander, and chilli powder in a similar balance but take the heat in a Mexican direction with spiced beef instead.

Can I use chicken thighs instead of breasts?

Yes. The Great Curries headnote says you can use boneless skinless thighs if you prefer. Thighs stay juicier during the stir-fry because they have more fat, and they handle the high heat better without drying out.

Cut them into the same size chunks and add an extra minute or two to the simmer at step 3. The calorie count will go up slightly, but the texture will be better.

What goes well alongside chicken jalfrezi?

Plain rice and warm naan catch the sauce, and a cucumber raita cools the chilli heat between bites. The headnote suggests serving with raita “to temper the chilli heat,” which is solid advice if you left all the seeds in.

For a proper curry night spread, the chicken balti from the same Great Curries cookbook makes a good mild companion. The balti uses a blitzed onion sauce with spinach, so the two taste completely different even though they come from the same book and sit in the same curry family.