FastCurries
Are you looking for a way to impress your friends and family while doing very little work? Try this Instant Pot Walnut Chicken – Murg Akhrot Curry made in an Instant Pot. It’s comforting enough for a pretty low key fast weeknight meal, but can also be made for a fancy dinner when you want to impress your family and friends.
This recipe is pretty easy and quick and most likely you have most of the ingredients on hand.
There’s nothing like a home-cooked chicken curry, even more, a meal that comes together in minutes and tastes like an elite restaurant meal.
Ingredients needed for Instant Pot Walnut Chicken – Murg Akhrot Curry include:
Chicken:
I used skinless and boneless chicken breasts and sliced them into 2 to 3 inch pieces. My family and kids prefer boneless chicken. But you could use whatever works for you for instance, thighs.
Spices needed for Instant Pot Walnut Chicken – Murg Akhrot Curry:
You need red chili powder (cayenne pepper), ground black pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, and garam masala.
Other ingredients:
Onion, tomato, salt, ginger garlic paste, half and half, or heavy whipping cream, and unsalted raw walnuts.
Spice levels:
If you follow this recipe as is then it is moderately spicy. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would rate it as level 2.5. It isn’t supposed to be very spicy, but creamy and flavorful instead. If you like your food more spicy you can add an additional ¼ or ½ tsp red chili powder.
Ginger garlic paste: I used the packaged ginger garlic paste from the Indian store. You can also mince equal amounts of fresh garlic and fresh ginger.
Walnuts: I used the Kirkland brand from Costco, since I always stock it at home. You can use whatever you prefer. They need to be raw and unsalted.
Heavy whipping cream versus half and half: I feel that substituting an equal amount of half-and-half for the heavy cream generally works quite well. The flavor and texture of the dish remains quite satisfactory and you tend to eat lesser calories. You could use either one.
Tried this recipe yet? Give us a rating, comment below in the reply section and let us know what you think.
Moreover, try some of our other recipes:
Instant Pot Walnut Chicken Curry / Instant Pot Murg Akhrot
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp oil of choice
- 1 onion chopped finely (1.5 cups chopped) (red, white, or yellow)
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
(either packaged or freshly minced) - 1.5 pounds chicken breasts chopped into 2 to 3 inch pieces (2 chicken breasts) (Approximately 2 cups chopped)
- 1 tomato pureed
- 3/4 tsp red chili powder
(lal mirch) - 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
(kali mirch) - 1/2 tsp ground cumin
(jeera powder) - 1 tsp ground coriander
(dhaniya powder) - 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 3/4 cup walnuts
(toasted and pureed with ¼ cup water) - 1 tbsp half and half (or heavy whipping cream)
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped (dhainya ke patte)
Instructions
Prep
- Chop the chicken roughly into 2 to 3 inch pieces.
- Wash and chop the onions, and cilantro.
- Sauté/toast the walnuts in a non-stick pan without oil until they turn light brown. Keep stirring and make sure they don’t burn. Keep it aside and let it cool.
- Puree the tomatoes.
Cook
- Select sauté on the instant pot and adjust to normal.
- Add oil to the pot.
- When the pot is hot, add the chopped onions and keep stirring to prevent the onions from burning.
- Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well.
- Add the chopped chicken, sauté for about 4 to 5 minutes to eliminate the pink color. Keep stirring.
- Add the tomato puree and let it sauté for a minute.
- Add the red chili powder (cayenne pepper), ground pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, and garam masala. Stir well.
- Scrape off the sides and bottom to make sure nothing is stuck on the sides or bottom.
- Press cancel.
- Secure the lid on the pot and close the pressure-release valve.
- Select manual and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add ¼ cup water to the toasted walnuts in a blender/ coffee blender and puree the walnuts.
- When cooking is complete, use quick release to depressurize.
- Open the lid. Select sauté. Add the pureed walnut and half and half. Let it sauté for about a minute and stir. Press cancel.
- Transfer to a bowl immediately.
Serve
- Garnish with cilantro.
- Serve with steamed rice or roti.
Notes
- This recipe has been tried on a 6-quart instant pot. The proportions may vary depending on the size of the instant pot you choose to use.
- Ground cayenne pepper and red chili powder can be used interchangeably as both of them make the dish spicy. So if you don’t have red chili powder you can use cayenne pepper instead.
- Most of the spices/ingredients are available in the Indian grocery store or on Amazon.
