Saucy Chicken 65

A saucy chicken 65 curry, with a rich yoghurt, tomato gravy cooked in butter. It goes perfectly well with Malabar Porota. 

Chicken 65 brings a lot of childhood memories for me. There is an old, small restaurant in Deira, Dubai named Najaf restaurant. I have mentioned this restaurant name in the blog before too. They serve the best chicken 65 and malabar paratha in the world. Seriously, if you haven’t visited this place before, I strongly recommend that you should go give it a try.

The ambience there is not so great but you wouldn’t mind that when you eat their 65 and soft flaky like parathas. Unlike the usual 65 which is dry and deep fried, this one is saucy. It has a sweet, sour and spicy taste to it.

I have been trying to crack the recipe for this for sooo long, but in vain. Tried many many recipes before, with some I get a slight taste of the 65 they serve at najaf, but not exactly. Remember my old post Sweet and spicy chicken fry?, that was the result of my moms attempt to imitate the 65 and she discovered another yumminess….which by the way is my faaav chicken fry recipe.

Then, one day I was chatting with my bff Sonia (the one who introduced your favorite serradura to the blog). We were talking about our old times and old visits. And I was telling her how much I miss her mom, Haseena aunty’s food especially this saucy chicken she used to make. So Sonia gave me the recipe for that. The next day, I was making it and I could feel the smell of Najaf chicken 65 coming from the dish. After I made it, I got soo excited and soo happy…..because…..I finally got the “EXACT” 65 recipe. It tastes just like that. Promise!!!! Thaaaanks Haseena aunty 😘😘😘😘 Love you for this and for many other reasons too, hehe!

Saucy Chicken 65

A spicy, sweet, sour and saucy chicken 65.
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

INGREDIENTS

  • 600 g chicken

For marination

  • 2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • Salt to taste

For the sauce

  • 3 tbsp yoghurt
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • A sprig of curry leaves
  • 4 green chillies 1 cut into 3 pieces
  • 1/2 of onion chopped
  • 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1-2 tsp sugar
  • Half of a capsicum cut in chunks (optional)
  • 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
  • 1 cup water
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

DIRECTIONS

  • Marinate the chicken in the above mentioned ingredients and shallow fry on high heat till charred on the outside. Keep aside
  • Blend together the yoghurt, tomato paste and ketchup.
  • In a pan heat butter, add in the curry leaves and green chillies. Sauté for a minute.
  • Add in onion and saute till soft and brownin color. Add ginger garlic paste and mix well for a minute. Add capsicum if using.
  • Add in the sugar, chilli powder and salt. Sauté well.
  • Pour in the blended yoghurt mix. Stir for 5 minutes on high heat.
  • Add the fried chicken to this. Pour in the water.
  • Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

✔️ If you want to give a bright red color to the curry, add 2-3 drops of red food color.
✔️ Adjust the spice level according to your preference.
✔️ I added 2 tsp of sugar, do a taste test and add sugar according to your liking.

22 thoughts on “Saucy Chicken 65

  1. We have very similar memories. Just today, I was telling about this chicken 65 version. My mum has been cooking it for almost 25 years now and even won awards in Dubai for her dish. I have eaten at Najaf too but cant recollect the taste of the 65 there. Even the version we make is saucy but slightly different to your recipe.

  2. I am so excited to see this! My hubby is a big fan of the Najaf chicken 65.Cant wait to try it out..will let you know how it goes down inshaAllah 🙂

  3. There used to be a Najaf in Sharjah and they used to serve a very similar looking chicken curry, but unfortunately due to the internal tussle of the partners, one fine morning, they just closed down! 🙁 I am not aware of the Najaf in Deira, maybe I must ask HD, though as far as eating is concerned, he is the last person… hehe… I am saving this up right away, sounds really simple and delicious too!

    1. I usually get the readymade tomato paste. It will be easily available. If you don’t get it from the store, you can make it at home too. For that boil the tomatoes, peel them and then puree it. Then cook it for few minutes, till it gets reduced and become very thick and free of moisture. Thats it.

  4. Would this taste same if prepared in pressure cooker instead of cooking closed for 20min ?

    1. I didn’t try the pressure cooker method dear. But I guess pressure cooker is not needed for this. It won’t take much time.

  5. We too have the same memories. In fact I was just searching for Najaf like chicken 65 recipe and voila! Your blog turned up and I was elaaated. It really tastes amazing and is one of the most missed thing in Dubai after I left there. I still make it a point to visit Najaf whenever I visit the UAE. Thanks a lot for your recipe and this is a definite try!

    1. Thank you Rena. Yes, I can totally understand you. I miss najaf chicken a lot too. And I also make it a point to have chicken 65 from there whenever I visit Dubai. This one which in the blog is a lot similar to najaf 65. Do try it out. Hope you like it.

  6. Yayy I tried this yesterday and guess what it tasted the exact same of what we would get in Najaf restaurant. Hubby was super happy and so was I. Thanks a bunch fr sharing this recipe with us stay blessed dear

  7. I made this the night before last 23May2022 – Mouthwatering – im still nibbling on it 2 days later.

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