Indian recipes
Easy Indian Recipes: Curries, Tikka, Biryani and Sweets
Indian home cooking builds flavour in layers: ginger, garlic and onion, a handful of ground spices such as garam masala, cumin, coriander and turmeric, and a finishing touch like crushed kasuri methi or fresh coriander. Yogurt marinades coat chicken and paneer for tikka, tomato sauces turn silky with cream and butter, and the sweets lean on ghee and cardamom.
These recipes are written for a regular kitchen. The air fryer handles paneer tikka, chicken malai tikka and seekh kebabs, plus samosas brushed with oil instead of deep-fried, and the slow cooker turns 15 minutes of prep into butter chicken or a vegan chickpea curry. Kashmiri chili powder gives colour with gentle heat; if you can't find it, paneer butter masala and butter chicken list paprika with a pinch of cayenne instead. For a weekend project, try the layered chicken biryani steamed on dum, or make Diwali sweets ahead: besan ladoo, coconut barfi and gulab jamun all keep for days.
12 recipes · Updated
Quick answer
Savour's Indian recipes range from sheer khurma, the quickest at 35 minutes, and paneer butter masala (50 minutes) to air fryer chicken malai tikka and paneer tikka, each just under an hour including 30 minutes of marinating. Chicken biryani takes about 2 hours 50 minutes with marinating, and slow cooker butter chicken needs 15 minutes of prep, then about 6 1/4 hours in the slow cooker.
- Recipes
- 12
- Average total time
- 2 hrs 14 mins
- Quickest
- Sheer Khurma (35 mins)
- Rated Easy
- 8 of 12
- Average calories
- 319 per serving
- Newest
- Chicken Seekh Kebabs
All Indian Recipes (12)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which spices do I need to start cooking Indian food at home?
A good starter set is garam masala, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, Kashmiri chili powder and dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi). Those cover most of the curries, tikka and kebabs here. The chicken biryani also uses whole green cardamom, cloves, a cinnamon stick and a bay leaf, the chickpea curry adds curry powder, and the sweets rely on cardamom.
What is kasuri methi?
Kasuri methi is dried fenugreek leaf. Crushed between your palms, it adds a savoury, slightly bitter aroma that makes tikka and butter chicken taste like restaurant versions. It goes into the paneer tikka, chicken malai tikka, butter chicken and paneer butter masala. Look for it at South Asian grocery stores or in the international aisle.
Which Indian recipes are vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free?
Paneer butter masala, paneer tikka, the samosas, the chickpea curry, sheer khurma, besan ladoo, coconut barfi and gulab jamun are vegetarian, and the samosas and chickpea curry are also vegan. Butter chicken, chicken biryani, both tikka recipes, the seekh kebabs, paneer butter masala, the chickpea curry, besan ladoo and coconut barfi are gluten-free. The samosas, sheer khurma and gulab jamun contain wheat. For celiac guests, buy besan labelled gluten-free for the ladoo.
Which Indian recipes can I make ahead?
Slow cooker butter chicken keeps for up to 4 days in the fridge and tastes even better the next day, and the chickpea curry keeps for 5 days. Both freeze for up to 3 months. Shaped, uncooked samosas freeze for up to 2 months and seekh kebabs for up to 3, and both cook straight from frozen. For Diwali, besan ladoo keeps for a week at room temperature and gulab jamun for 5 days in their syrup in the fridge.