Chicken Pathia is a popular medium hot curry with a sweet and sour sauce, enjoyed in curry houses all over the UK every day.
Find out how to make your Chicken Pathia at home using simple ingredients. Just like you get from an Indian restaurant or takeaway.
How to make Chicken Pathia Curry?
Continue reading below after the recipe card for more tips on making your Chicken Pathia curry from scratch.
📖 Step by Step Recipe
Chicken Pathia Curry - Indian Takeaway Style
Ingredients
Pathia Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Sunflower Oil - substitute with Ghee
- 2 Onions
- 1 flat tbsp Garlic Puree - or 6 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 teaspoon Chilli puree - can use chopped fresh chillies instead (add extra if want hot)
- 1 tablespoon Sundried Tomato Puree - can substitute with normal tomato puree
- 2 tablespoon Curry Powder - substitute for hot or mild curry powder as desired
- 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
- ½ tablespoon Brown Sugar
- ½ Lime (juice only)
- 350 ml ( 1 ½ cup) Cold Water
- Salt
- 2 Bird's Eye Fresh Chillies - You can use more or less or stronger chillies
- Handful Fresh chopped corriander leaves - substitute with 1 teaspoon dried leaf coriander
Chicken to add to sauce ( see notes if using other meat/ vegetables for cooking time)
- 1 tablespoon Sunflower Oil - substitute with Ghee
- 3 large Chicken Breasts - chopped into chunks
- 1 tablespoon Medium Curry Powder - substitute for hot or mild curry powder as desired
- 1 teaspoon Chilli Puree - can use minced fresh chillies instead
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Puree - or 2 garlic cloves crushed
Instructions
- Fry the onions in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic puree, chilli puree and sundried tomato puree, stir through with the onions for 1 minute.
- Add the following stir between each addition, first curry powder.
- Then, chopped tomatoes.
- Add lime juice, sugar and salt.
- Finally, pour in water, and stir the sauce together whilst bringing it to the boil
- If using fresh chillies add now. (See the blog post for more information about chillies.) Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Whilst it simmers cook your chicken.
- Place oil and chicken into a large pan over medium heat. Add curry powder, garlic and chilli puree.
- Stir through and cook for about 15 minutes, check that chicken is cooked through. Take off heat and keep aside until sauce is ready.
- If used, remove whole chillies, keeping them aside for anyone who likes it spicy, to add back to their serving.
- Pour the pathia sauce into a blender or into a jug and use a hand blender
- Blend into a lump-free sauce.
- Return the blended pathia sauce into a pan on medium heat.
- Add your cooked chicken.
- Sprinkle in a small handful of chopped coriander.
- Stir whilst the sauce and chicken warm through for about 5 minutes.
- Serve and add extra chilli, if desired.
Video
Nutrition
This post was originally posted on 28/02/2021. It has been updated with more advice on ingredients and how to make the Chicken Pathia Curry recipe. We moved the recipe card up in the post on 25/06/2024 to make it more user-friendly.
What is a Pathia Curry?
The traditional Pathia (pronounced without the h - Patia) originates from Persia.
Indians have adapted this authentic dish and is now selected as one of the UK's best curry dishes served in all British Indian restaurants.
Ingredients
Pathia sauce is made from scratch using onions, garlic, chillies, curry powder, tomatoes, brown sugar, lime juice and coriander.
Use 1 ½ tablespoon of tamarind concentrate instead of light brown sugar and lime juice for the most authentic taste.
However, as tamarind concentrate is not always easy to find. Lime & sugar will give you a similar sweet and sour flavour to the pathia sauce!
Making Pathia Sauce
Follow the recipe instructions making the sauce first and leave it to simmer.
Whilst that is simmering you have the right amount of time to get the chicken cooked.
Is Pathia hot?
Pathia curry is usually a medium-spiced curry. But with this recipe, you are making your own version, so you can decide how mild or hot you like it.
It's easy to adjust the heat by adding or removing chillies, chilli puree, or different-strength curry powders.
Mild Curry
To keep it mild use a mild curry powder and only 1 teaspoon of chilli puree with the sauce, none with the chicken.
Omit the fresh chillies if no one wants them on their plate!
Medium Hot Curry
For a medium spiced curry, follow the instructions and ingredients used in the recipe card.
We use 2 teaspoon chilli puree in the sauce and 1 teaspoon of chilli puree with the chicken.
Another good idea is adding chillies kept whole and cooked in the sauce.
Don't blend them into the sauce, instead, add to the plate of whoever wants a little extra kick to their curry!
Hot and Spicy Curry
To spice it up more, use a hot curry powder and throw in some extra chilli puree.
Also, instead of keeping the fresh chilli peppers whole, roughly chop them and blend them into the sauce!
And if some people like it hotter than others, you can always add some freshly chopped chilli to just their plate.
What chilli pepper to use?
We like bird's eye chillies; they are small but have nice heat to them.
To make it hotter, try using a stronger chilli, such as habanero or ghost peppers. These will give a hot spicy kick! Check out this pepper heat scale by pepper joes, to help you decide which chillies to use?
Blending curry sauce
Once the sauce has finished simmering use a blender (a handheld blender can be used instead) to make the pathia sauce smooth and lump-free.
This may seem like a bit of a fuss at the time, but it makes the curry more like a takeaway style.
Now with your pathia curry sauce ready, its time to add your cooked chicken and some coriander.
Have a taste test of the sauce and add more fresh chopped chilli now if wanted more spicy?
Just warm it all through before serving.
Serve chicken pathia curry, with your usual Indian side dishes. Such as, Naan, Coconut Pilau Rice, onion bhaji, tomato, cucumber and onion salad with Cucumber and Mint Raita and Mango Chutney.
Can I use something other than chicken?
The pathia sauce is cooked first so you can add whatever you like to it after the sauce has been blended.
Chicken is a firm favourite for a curry. Lamb, prawns, king prawns, fish, duck, or vegetables will also work well!
Simply cook the chosen meat, fish or vegetables in a separate pan, whilst the sauce is cooking. Then add together after the sauce has been blended and warm through with the sauce.
If you prefer chicken tikka, you will need to plan ahead to marinate and cook the chicken in yoghurt and spice before adding to the pathia curry sauce..
The smooth pathia sauce is perfect for dipping your naan bread in and mixing it into the pilau rice!
Can I make it ahead?
Chicken Pathia Curry can be made and stored in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheat in a pan or in the microwave, making sure it is hot throughout.
Now you know how to make a chicken pathia, why not check out our King Prawn Masala Curry, Basa Fish Curry or Homemade Lamb Curry. Or, if you fancy something different try out our Thai Green Beef Curry.
More Takeaway Style Recipes
If you love to create your own takeaway-style recipes, try out some of these.
Geraldine says
I've just made the Pathia curry. it turned out really well. Only alteration I made was to use passata instead of tinned tomatoes. Lovely.
Luke and Kay says
Thank you for trying out our Chicken Pathia Curry, Geraldine! We're delighted to hear that it turned out really well. Thank you for following our recipe and sharing your success. The use of passata is a great substitute for tinned tomatoes when cooking this recipe 🙂
Tony says
Very nice, Saturday night is curry night for us, lovely flavour and texture, i blended until absolutely smooth,as it does make a big difference, also added the juice of a whole lime and a little more sugar than was in the recipe. All in all a really tasty ,quick and easy curry.
Luke and Kay says
Hello Tony, thank you for such an amazing review of our Chicken Pathia Curry! We're thrilled to hear that it made your Saturday night even more enjoyable which is exactly what we strive for. We're glad to hear that you blended the curry until it was smooth which brought out its best flavour - and adding the extra lime and sugar made it even tastier! We appreciate your feedback and pleased to learn that you found this recipe both easy and delicious. Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience with us--we look forward to sharing more of our recipes with you in the future! 🙂
Heather says
This recipe is absolutley bangin'! i have made it 4 times now, and i feel I have finally nailed it! I'm now confident enough to make it for my fussy friends 2mo. All the other recipes i have tried have left me feeling a little disappointed, but not this one. The only addition I make is sometimes stirring in a bit of spinach a few minutes before finishing, and tomorrow, i'll tikka up some king prawns and add those too! Thanks for sharing!! 😉
Heather
Luke and Kay says
Thanks so much for your review, Heather! We’re thrilled that you’ve had such success with our Chicken Pathia Curry and are so happy to hear that you have mastered it. We love hearing about the changes and adaptations our guests make to customize this recipe; spinach and king prawns are perfect additions, they sound delicious!
We look forward to hearing more about your successful evening entertaining friends with this dish, all the best! 🙂
Ian Wyatt says
This is the third time I've cooked your recipe for chicken pathia and it's the closest to a restaurant quality dish I've come across! We always have pathia or dhansak as a takeaway and I've tried countless recipes but this is hands down the best! I have to confess though, I do add a small amount of tamarind, a tablespoon of mango chutney and towards the end some quartered Vine ripened tomatoes, oh and I make my own curry powder which makes all the difference, top marks guys!
Luke and Kay says
We are delighted that you're enjoying our Chicken Pathia Curry recipe, Ian! It's so wonderful to hear that this is the closest one you've come across to a restaurant-grade dish. We appreciate you taking the time to adapt our suggestion by adding small amounts of tamarind, mango chutney, and tomatoes. Making your own curry powder also sounds like a great way to add that extra flavour. 🙂
Jaine Wills says
Absolutely scrummy. If ever we get a takeaway, we always get either a Pathia or a Dhansak. No need from now on - we just need the Dhansak recipe now though 🙂
Luke and Kay says
Hi Jaine, thank you for your wonderful review! We're so glad that our Chicken Pathia Curry recipe has earned five stars from you and that it has become a favourite at home!
We are working on creating even more recipes here in our kitchen, and we'll be sure to prioritize the Dhansak recipe next. I will keep you updated, and I am sure it won't take too long before you have a new favourite curry dish 😊 In the meantime, you could try out some of other curries like Chicken Balti Curry - Indian Takeaway Recipe or Chicken Bhuna Curry they are delicious 😉
Shaun Edmonds says
Lovely curry, and easy to make at home, but I'm not sure you can call it Indian Takeaway Style, or BIR, as it's called in the UK, very close but not quite there. All restaurant curries are made with a base gravy, the additions you add determine the type of curry you want. Here you've made the Pathia sauce complete, and beautiful it is, don't get me wrong, but restaurant style is constructed differently.
Luke and Kay says
Hi Shaun, thank you so much for your review! We're delighted that our Chicken Pathia Curry was easy to make at home and has a lovely taste. We appreciate your thoughts on what is generally referred to as “takeaway style” here in the UK – we understand it functions differently than restaurant-style curries and we always strive to bring authenticity to the dishes we create.
Darrin Beresford says
This recipe is bang on, Super quick and easy to make and tastes even better than the ones from the top local take away or restaurant! Love it and I would highly recommend anyone who likes pathia and is thinking of making one to give this recipe a try!
Luke and Kay says
Thank you for trying out our Chicken Pathia Curry recipe, Darrin! We're glad you enjoyed it and that it was quick and easy to make. The flavours are spot on too, just like the ones from your favourite local takeaway or restaurant. Thanks again for giving it a try, and we hope you'll make it again soon! 🙂