Recipe: A South Indian-Style Chicken Curry That’s Masterchef Winner Justin Narayan’s Death-Row Meal

Leftover chicken masala-topped pizza. Cardamom caramel slice. Chilli- and masala-spiked scrambled eggs. These are just a handful of the recipes found in Masterchef 2021 winner Justin Narayan’s debut cookbook Everything is Indian, which interprets dishes from around the world with an Indian lens, influenced by his upbringing in a Fijian-Indian family in Australia. In the same way many of us might add a dash of soy sauce to deepen a bolognaise or a thwack of toum to liven up a roast chook, Narayan brings an Indian-accented element to much of the food he cooks – no matter the cuisine.

“Food is how I relate to the world and these recipes are how I’ve related to the people around me,” he writes. “None of these recipes are inspired by my travels. They’re inspired by the Fijian and Indian food from my family, the Chinese restaurants in Nedlands, the garlic sauce in Granville, the Portuguese chicken in Petersham.”

This chicken curry – which Narayan says is his “death-row meal” – is his mum’s original chicken curry recipe. And, like her son, she brings inspiration from elsewhere into her cooking. In this case, soy sauce. “Everyone is like, ‘what the heck?’ But it makes sense,” he writes. “Soy sauce is just saltiness, umami and a bit of colour. It snuck into Mum’s cooking when she came to Australia. I don’t know if other Fijian-Indian families are doing it. I just know my family is.”

Narayan calls his mum the “alpha cook” in his family. “She learned from both her mum (nani) and from my dad’s mum (parti), who she lived with for 24 years. Through osmosis – how you really learn to make Indian food – she gained the skills and recipes from two of the most incredible cooks I know.”

Her chicken curry is south Indian-style: it’s dry, fresh and light. Instead of coconut milk, dairy or tomato, moisture is yielded from the chicken and its bones, which are cooked into a “stock-like gravy”, resulting in a “really intense, savoury flavour”.

The recipe calls for crushed garlic cloves and ginger paste; while Narayan says shop-bought is fine, he prefers to make his own pastes. “Because I’m making so many recipes that require garlic and ginger, I keep jars of garlic and ginger paste in my fridge. I make my own in bulk. If you can’t be bothered, buy some, but I find the flavour of store-bought to be more subdued, so you may need to add more to the recipe to get the same impact as fresh garlic/ginger or a homemade paste.

“Get a whole heap of garlic and ginger, peel, roughly chop and blend each separately with a pinch of salt and a little oil (to help extend the shelf life), then place each in a clean jar and store in the fridge. For one cup (about 150 grams) chopped garlic or ginger, go with a pinch of salt (2–4 grams) and 1–2 tablespoons of oil.”

Justin Narayan’s “OG” chicken curry

Serves 4–6
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes marinating
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (1.2–1.5kg, see tip at bottom)
1 tbsp lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)
1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ cup (60ml) light olive oil
1 brown onion, roughly diced or sliced
1 sprig fresh curry leaves
3–4 garlic cloves, crushed, or 2 tsp garlic paste (see above)
10g fresh ginger, finely grated, or 1 tsp ginger paste (see above)
1½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
Rice, to serve
½ bunch of fresh coriander, leaves and stems roughly chopped, to serve

Spice mix
¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp black mustard seeds
⅛ tsp fenugreek seeds

Roti
2 tsp (10g) honey
2 cups (300g) atta flour, plus extra if needed
2 tbsp olive oil

Method

Using a heavy cleaver or sharp knife and some muscle, break down the chicken into roughly 3–4 cm pieces, keeping the meat on the bone. (You can also ask the butcher to do this.) Place the chicken pieces in a bowl with the lemon juice and soy sauce and mix. Let it sit for 30 minutes (this will keep the chicken firm during the cooking).

Meanwhile, to make the spice mix, combine cumin, black mustard and fenugreek seeds.

Once chicken is marinated, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium–high heat, then add the spice mix and toast until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the onion and cook until it starts to turn golden brown. Add the curry leaves, garlic, ginger and powdered spices and cook for 1–2 minutes. Add the chicken and the soy marinade and mix in. Season with a little pinch of salt, cover with a lid and cook, stirring periodically (every 5–10 minutes), for 20–30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare your rice and roti.

To make the rice, wash until the water runs clear. (This removes starch, which is essential for making fluffy rice.) Drain the rice, then put it in a saucepan with double the amount of water to rice (if you’re using jasmine or basmati). Bring to a simmer – this will take about 5 minutes. As soon as it comes to a simmer, turn the heat to low and cover with a lid. Let it cook for 15 minutes (the same time for any amount of rice). Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 10–15 minutes (don’t touch it, keep that lid on). Once the timer is up, you have perfect rice and now you can do anything in life.

For the roti, boil at least 1½ cups (375ml) water in a saucepan or kettle. Take off the heat and let the water cool down for 5 minutes, then mix the honey into 1½ cups (375ml) of the water until dissolved. (I’ve measured the temperature my mum uses, it’s about 90°C.)

Place the flour and about 1 tbsp oil in a bowl and mix with your hands, then slowly add the honey water. Mix (with a fork if it’s too hot to use your hands) until it’s a dry, shaggy mess. When cool enough to use your hands, work it into a dough. Knead on a clean work surface for a few minutes until the dough is looking smooth. Add the remaining oil and knead some more until you have a soft, smooth and playdough-like dough, about 5–10 minutes all up.

Make adjustments with extra flour or hot water if you need to. Cover the dough with a damp tea (dish) towel and rest in a warm environment for 5 minutes, then divide into golf ball-sized balls.

Dust the work surface or cutting board with extra flour (this will prevent the dough from sticking) and roll each ball out until it’s 1–2mm thick. Heat a frying pan over medium–high heat, then cook one roti for 20–30 seconds on one side, then flip and cook for 30–45 seconds on the other side. Do a final third flip and cook for another 30 seconds.

On the third flip, you should be looking for a bit of browning and some puffing up (you don’t want it to go black, so adjust the heat if it’s too hot or not hot enough). When it’s done, set aside under a clean tea towel. If you have a roti or tortilla warmer, use that. Repeat with the remaining roti, adding each following roti to the stack and covering with the tea towel until ready to serve.

Once the chicken is ready, taste and adjust with salt. Garnish with the fresh coriander and serve with roti and rice.

Tip
If you don’t want to break down a whole chicken or you want a boneless curry (I won’t judge you), just sub it out for 800g–1 kg skinless, boneless chicken thighs.

This is a lightly edited extract from Everything is Indian by Justin Narayan with Nicholas Jordan ($39.99). Released March 4, 2025 by Murdoch Books.

For more dishes to cook once the mercury drops, check out Broadsheet ’s winter recipe series.