Jasha maru ('jasha' = chicken in Dzongkha) is the Bhutanese chicken curry — milder and more recognizably Indian-influenced than the chili-and-cheese datshi family. Reflects exchange with Indian and Nepali border regions. Often the dish Bhutanese hotels serve to first-time foreign visitors before introducing them to ema datshi.
Spoon up jasha maru over red rice — bone-in chicken pieces in a sunset-orange tomato sauce, green chili rings and cilantro flecks scattered across the top. Bite: the chicken is moist, falling cleanly off the bone; the sauce is layered tomato-acidity, onion-sweetness, the cumin grounding it, the green chili adding gentle heat. Less fiery than ema datshi, more curry-like; the dish reads as 'home' more than 'national identity'. With red rice underneath soaking the sauce, this is the Bhutanese weekday family dinner.
Browning the chicken in batches develops Maillard depth in both the meat and the bottom-of-pot fond that the onion will deglaze. The tomato base is the Indian-influenced element of jasha maru — most Bhutanese cooking lacks tomato sauces. Simmering bone-in chicken adds collagen body to the sauce. The cilantro-lemon finish is bright contrast to the long-cooked base.
Variations
Jasha maru with potatoes added. With yogurt finish (creamier, Indian-influenced). Spicy version with extra dried chili. With chicken-and-vegetables (squash, beans). Bhutanese restaurant version with kasundi (mustard). Free-range chicken version (more flavor, traditional).
On the Palate
Where Jasha Maru sits in the Bhutanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
9 steps · 35 min active + 15 min waiting
- 13 min
Cut 800 g bone-in chicken (thighs and drumsticks) into 6-cm pieces. Pat dry.
- 210 min
Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a heavy pot over medium-high. Brown the chicken pieces in batches 4 min per side; remove.
Watch outBrown the chicken in batches, skin-side down first — that crust and the sticky brown film left in the pot become the sauce's depth.
- 36 min
Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 sliced onions; cook 5 min until soft.
- 42 min
Add 1 tbsp grated ginger, 6 minced garlic cloves, 2 sliced green chilies, 2-3 dried red chilies; cook 1 min.
- 56 min
Add 3 chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp salt; cook 5 min until tomatoes break down.
Watch outCook the tomatoes down until they collapse into a soft pulp — this broken-down base is what coats the chicken; rush it and the sauce tastes raw.
- 626 min
Return chicken to pot. Add 500 ml water; cover and simmer 25 min until chicken is just cooked through.
- 75 min
Uncover; reduce 5 min to concentrate the sauce.
Watch outUncover and reduce until the sauce clings to the chicken — too thin and it slides right off the rice.
- 81 min
Stir in 2 tbsp chopped cilantro and squeeze 1 tbsp lemon juice.
- 91 min
Serve hot over Bhutanese red rice with a side of ema datshi.
