One of my mother’s most sought after recipes for lunch and dinner parties. Goes well with puris, parathas, birinji, rice, iddlis, appams, almost anything. It is not a very spicy dish but more of a rich, creamy taste.
Ingredients:
Chicken – 1/2 kg
Green chillies – 4 if spicy (otherwise 6)
Turmeric powder – 3/4 tsp
Tomatoes – 1 no. + 1/2 no.
Onion chopped – 1 no. + 1/2 onion
Chopped coriander – 3/4 tbsp
Mint leaves/Pudina – 8 -10 leaves
Juice of 1/4 lime
Oil – 1tsp + 2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp butter or ghee
Aniseed/Saunf – 1/2 tsp
Cloves – 2 +1
Cinnamon – 1/2 inch + 1/2 inch piece
Cardamom – 1 +1
Bay leaf 1 big cut into 2 or 2 small leaves
Ginger paste – 1 tsp
Garlic paste – 3/4 tsp
Curd slightly sour – 2 1/2 tbsp
Milk – 1/2 cup
Water – 1 1/2 cup
Grated coconut – 4 tbsp
Almonds – 8 (soaked in water and deskinned) OR
Cashews -8
Khus Khus/Poppy seeds – 1/2 tsp
To grind:
- Grind grated coconut , khus khus and almonds to a smooth paste. Keep aside.
2. Heat 1tsp oil in a pan. Add 1 clove, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 1 cardamom and fry. Then add green chillies chopped in half, as it may burst otherwise. Fry for 3 minutes till the green colour changes slightly. Then, add 1/2 chopped onion, saute well and then 1/2 tomato and fry. Grind and keep aside separately.
Preparation:
Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes with curds, half of ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and salt.
Heat oil and ghee. Add saunf, 2 cloves, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 1 cardamom and bay leaf . Saute once and add chopped onion. When it turns slightly golden, add chopped mint leaves, half of the coriander leaves, rest of the ginger-garlic paste and fry well on low flame till the raw smell of garlic goes off. Then add the tomato-onion-green chillie paste and saute again. Add 1 chopped tomato and saute till it turns pulpy. Add marinated chicken and saute on low heat till it becomes slightly thick. Add 1/2 cup milk and 1 1/2 cup water and cook on low flame till the chicken is cooked. Then add the coconut, almond, khus khus paste and boil on low flame for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
Switch off the flame and add juice of 1/2 lime and serve garnished with coriander leaves. You can also take a hard boiled egg, chop the whites into small bits and using the grater, grate the yolk as garnish. I have added half cooked boiled eggs, cooked on low heat for 5 minutes in my recipe. Hard boiled egg sliced and quartered or slivered almonds can also be used as garnish.
Meal Haven 