Dishoom Chicken Ruby Recipe
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Dishoom Chicken Ruby Recipe is like a cross between chicken tikka masala and butter chicken. This is the best curry I’ve ever had in my life! A rich and super flavorful curry, made with fresh ground spices, crushed tomatoes, cream, and butter. When my 8 year-old tried this recipe he looked at me and said, “This is the best meal I’ve ever had in my life!” So I hope you and your family love it too! The flavors are complex but not super spicy so anyone can eat it.
I first heard about this dish from my friend Jamie who visited London and tried the famed restaurant (there are several locations but they are always booked solid!). She brought my back the cookbook and I’ve drooled over the pages but never felt adventurous enough to make the recipes (until I tried it for myself!). The recipes are not hard to make, they just involve many steps, mainly due to all the freshly toasted and ground spices that Dishoom uses, and also due to the longer cooking times on their recipes to really develop the flavors.
Where does Chicken Ruby come from?
Dishoom describes this recipe in the cookbook: “Ruby Murray was a 1950s Irish pop singer, whose name became Cockney rhyming slang for curry. This is our take on butter chicken, which was invented a the famous Moti Mahal in Delhi. Apparently, the cook first made this dish for his staff using leftover tandoori chicken in a makhani sauce. The owner then put it on the menu, and it soon became their most popular dish.”
This fall my friends from College Study Abroad decided to take a 20th anniversary trip to London – and I made sure to get reservations at Dishoom. (You know how much I love International Food!). I had to book 4 months out! So book early if you are visiting. I was worried the meal would be too hyped up, because we’d heard so much about this restaurant, and even when we went to check in for our reservations, the line was around the block for walk in seating. But! The meal was everything I hoped it would be. Even better than my expectations. Every dish was deeply seasoned and perfectly cooked, but also fresh and filled with bright flavor. We loved everything we ate at Dishoom (and the Mango Lassis were perfect), but the Chicken Ruby and House Black Daal were the highlights. We could not get enough. We almost licked the dishes. Once I got home, I immediately set to testing these recipes to get them up on my site for you!
I tested this Chicken Ruby recipe a couple ways, to give you options on how to make it. To make this recipe the same way the restaurant does (the way it’s written in their Dishoom Cookbook), it will be more complex and take you more time, but the result is absolutely worth it! I dedicated some time one weekend to making all the components, cooking the spices, grinding them, making the marinade, marinating the chicken for 24 hours, and then finishing it off by cooking on Sunday. This is one option. I also tested the recipe with a simplified version for you – it doesn’t involve making your own masala or toasting and grinding your own spices. It is still delicious, just not as deep in flavor as the first option. This second option might be better for a quicker weeknight meal. On the recipe card below, I’ve provided directions for both options for you.
There are a couple things that make this Dishoom Chicken Ruby Recipe such a stand-out dish:
- Complexity of the marinade (freshly toasted and ground spices, tons of fresh ginger and garlic, and a long marinating time)
- Cooking off the marinated chicken on its own before making the curry sauce (the chicken alone is insanely good. You could eat it without the curry and still have an amazing meal. So then, adding a delicious curry sauce only adds to the levels of flavor in this dish).
- The makhani sauce is the key component to the curry sauce ( complex layers of flavor from ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and fresh spices like cardamom pods, cinnamon, cumin and garam masala, finished with a touch of cream and butter for richness).
Before you start this recipe, there are some things you’ll probably need to buy. There are lots of Indian spices I needed to get that aren’t found at most grocery stores (I even made a new section in my cupboard for all these new spices – it’s a lot! But they will last you a while.) There are also some tools you might need. I’ll list them here in case you need to buy these also.
Ingredients:
- Whole Cumin Seed
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Black Cardamom Pods
- Green Cardamom Pods
- Deggi Mirch Chilli Powder
- Dried Fenugreek Leaves
- Coriander Seeds
- Whole Cloves
- Mace Blades
- Poppy Seeds
- Dried Rose Petals
- Whole Peppercorns
- Star Anise
Equipment:
- Microplane Zester ($17.95)
- Hammered Metal Indian Dishes (optional) ($36.99)
- Microplane Zester ($17.95)
Dishoom Chicken Ruby Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken & Marinade
- 3 lbs. boneless chicken thighs (1400g)
- 20 g fresh ginger, chopped fine (4 teaspoons)
- 40 g garlic, chopped fine (40g) (5 cloves)
- 10 g salt (2 teaspoons)
- 10 g deggi mirch chilli powder (2 teaspoons)
- 15 g ground cumin (3 teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (to make this authentic to the restaurant, make their garam masala recipe (below) – or to make it simpler, use store-bought garam masala)
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup full fat plain Greek yogurt
Homemade Garam Masala (If you're simplifying the recipe, don't make this and use store-bought Garam Masala)
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 4 whole cloves
- 5 g black peppercorns (1 teaspoon)
- 2 large cinnamon sticks
- 10 g coriander seeds (2 teaspoons)
- 5 g cumin seeds (1 teaspoon)
- 4 g fennel seeds (just under 1 teaspoon)
- 2 g star anise (1/2 teaspoon)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 g mace blades (1/2 teaspoon)
- 10 g poppy seeds (2 teaspoons)
- 2 g dried rose petals dried rose petals
Makhani Sauce
- 70 g garlic, chopped fine (14-16 cloves)
- 175 ml vegetable oil (1½ cups)
- 40 g fresh ginger, chopped fine (40g) (2 tablespoons)
- 2 cans (28 oz. each) crushed tomatoes (I used Cento Brand)
- 4 bay leaves
- 12 green cardamom pods
- 4 black cardamom pods
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon deggi mirch chilli powder
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons garam masala (to make this authentic to the restaurant, make their garam masala recipe (below) – or to make simpler use store-bought garam masala)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill fronds
- 2 cups heavy cream
For Garnish
- cilantro, chopped
- pomegranate seeds
- fresh sliced ginger matchsticks
- serve with Basmati Rice and/or Naan and/or Dishoom House Black Daal
Instructions
Garam Masala
- If you are making this exact to the restaurant version, and making your own garam masala, you'll want to do this first.
- Put everything except the poppy seeds and rose petals into a cold, dry frying pan and place over a medium heat to warm, shaking the pan occasionally. Toast for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.
- Add the poppy seeds and rose petals, and let the mixture cool in the pan.
- Transfer the cooled spice mix to a spice grinder or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.
Chicken & Marinade
- For the marinade, blitz all the ingredients (in a food processor or blender) to a smooth paste, then transfer to a bowl (or large tupperware with lid). Cut the chicken into 4cm chunks, add to the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 6 to 24 hours.
- Heat the grill (or a large pan) to medium-high. Put the marinated chicken on a rack in the grill pan (or on the pre-heated pan with a little oil), brush with the melted butter and grill for eight to 10 minutes, until cooked through and nicely charred.(I did this on the stovetop and the chicken turned out delicious.)
- Set the chicken aside (covered), while you make the Makhani Sauce.
Makhani Sauce & Putting the Curry Together
- This sauce can be made just before you're about to eat this recipe, or you can make it the day before and chill it until you're ready to use.
- Peel and finely dice 15g of the garlic (about 1/3 of all the garlic). Warm a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the oil. Toss in the chopped garlic and fry until light golden brown and slightly crisp – about seven to eight minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
- Grate the remaining garlic and the ginger to a fine paste on a microplane (or grind in a mortar).
- Put the saucepan containing the oil back on a medium-high heat and add the bay leaves, green and black cardamom pods, and the cinnamon sticks. Let them crackle for one minute, stirring regularly, then turn down the heat and add the garlic and ginger paste. Cook for five minutes, allowing the paste to brown but not burn.
- Add the canned tomatoes, salt and chilli powder to the pan. Bring to a rapid simmer and cook until reduced by half, stirring regularly so it doesn’t burn or stick to the edges – this should take about 30 minutes. Add the butter and simmer for a further five minutes. Add the garam masala, sugar, honey, cumin, crisp garlic, fenugreek and dill fronds, and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the cream and simmer gently for five minutes. The sauce is now ready to use.
- If you are preparing the sauce ahead of time, allow it to cool, put it in an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.
- If using the sauce immediately, add in the cooked chicken to the sauce and simmer for about 15 minutes over low heat.
- Serve over Basmati rice or with naan (and/or the Dishoom House Black Daal).
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Tastes great leftover and reheated as well!
I really hope you get a chance to try this Dishoom Chicken Ruby Recipe! Our whole family loved it and we hope you do too! Be sure to tag me @plumstreetcollective on Instagram if you make this.
