Nizami dum chicken

Recipe adapted from here

Chicken- 800 gms, with bone, cut into medium size pieces

Marinade

Yoghurt= 3 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Garam masala- 3/4th tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder- 1 tbsp (more if you want it spicy)

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Ghee- 1/2 tbsp

Oil- 1 tbsp

Cinnamon- 1 inch piece

Black cardamom- 1

Bay leaf- 1

Coriander seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Fried onions- 1/2 cup ( i used store bought friend onions)

Cashews- 1/4 cup, soaked in water for 15 minutes, and ground to a fine paste

Kasuri methi- 1 tsp

Coriander leaves-1/4 cup, roughly chopped.

Marinate the cut chicken with all the ingredients under marinade.

Heat ghee and oil in a pan and add the whole spices.

When they start to sizzle, add the marinated chicken and fry on medium high heat for a few seconds.

Add the fried onions, mix well and cook covered for about 5 minutes.

Once the water is released, add around 1/2 to 3/4th cup of warm water and cover and cook on medium heat till the chicken is done. Stir in between, and add more water if required.

Mix the cashew paste followed by kasuri methi.

Simmer for another 5 more minutes and once the gravy becomes thick, add the coriander leaves.

Take it off heat and cover and leave till ready to serve.

Notes: This is an excellent chicken curry, especially to make on days when you are short on time. 

Not a lot of prep to be done, just the marinade and if you have store bought fried onions, then you are sorted.

The cashew paste, brings it all together. But I'm going to try it with coconut milk next time.

I've posted a step by step reel on Instagram

Bachelors chicken curry

Recipe adapted from here

Chicken- 800gms, with bone, cut into medium pieces

Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped

Tomato- 1 medium, finely chopped

Green chillies-2, slit

Curry leaves- a sprig

Ginger- 1 heaped tbsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tbsp

Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Coconut oil- 1 tbsp

Thin coconut milk- 1 1/2 cups

Thick coconut milk- 1/2 cup

Garam masala- 3/4th tsp

Pepper powder- 3/4th tsp (freshly ground)

Coriander leaves- 3 tbsp, roughly chopped

To temper

Coconut oil- 1 tbsp

Dried red chillies- 2, broken in half

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Shallots- 3 to 4, roughly chopped

Garlic- 2 large pods, finely chopped

Meat masala- 1 tsp

Mix together the first set of ingredients- chicken, all the way through to coconut oil- in a heavy bottom pan. Use your hands to nicely massage all those ingredients on to the chicken pieces.

Add the thin coconut milk and place on medium heat and cook with the lid on for about 25 to 30 minutes or till the chicken is cooked.

After about half an hour, the curry would be boiling away and the chicken cooked.

Add the thick coconut milk and cook with the lid open till the curry thickens and oil starts surfacing around the edges.

At this stage, add the garam masala, pepper powder and coriander leaves. 

Check salt and add more if necessary and give a good stir and switch off the heat.

In a separate pan, heat the coconut oil and add all the ingredients to temper.

On medium heat, keep stirring till the shallots and garlic turns a light golden brown.

Pour over the chicken curry, cover with a lid and keep aside for 15 minutes for the flavours to infuse

When ready to serve, give a good stir and enjoy with idiappam, chapathi, appam or even rice.

Notes: When i started off i wasn't very sure about the recipe because there was no sauteing the onions and masala, but instead everything was just boiled together. i hate seeing pieces of onions floating in a curry. But it soon comes together once you add the thick coconut milk and the watery curry reduces to a thicker gravy. 

The trick here is to let the curry thicken properly and have the chicken pieces coated in the curry.

Make sure you use good quality coconut milk. I used the Maggi coconut milk powder.

The meat masala in the tempering is purely optional but it makes such a difference.

I renamed the curry Bachelors chicken curry because, really it cant get easier than this. Other than chopping up a few ingredients, there is not much work. Just dump everything into a pot and cook. Perfect for those after work quick dinners.

Original recipe asked for potatoes, but i ditched it. Feel free to add it at around 20 minutes into the cooking time.

Works great with beef I'm sure. I will try that soon.

Mum's Kerala chicken stew

Serves 4 as part of a main meal

Chicken- 1 baby chicken (around 800gms), cut into medium size pieces, and without skin

Coconut oil- 2 tbsp

Cinnamon- 2 inch stick

Cloves- 3

Cardamom- 3

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Onions- 2 scant cups, thinly sliced

Garlic- 2 tbsp, finely chopped

Ginger- 1 1/2 tsp, finely chopped

Green chillies- 2, slit (add more if you want it spicy)

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Fennel powder- scant 1 1/2 tsp (freshly ground)

Pepper powder- 1 1/2 tsp (freshly ground)

Tomato- 1 large, thinly sliced (or 1/2 tbsp tomato paste

Potato- 1 medium, peeled and cut into medium size cubes

Thin coconut milk- 2 cups

Thick coconut milk- 1/2 cup

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

For tempering

Ghee- 1 tsp

Shallots- 2, roughly chopped

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Meat masala- 1/2 tsp (optional, but def makes a difference)

Heat coconut oil in a pan and add the whole spices.

Once they start to sizzle add the curry leaves, onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies and some salt.

Cook on medium heat till the onions turn a light golden colour and the raw smell of the ginger and garlic disappears.

Make sure you cook the onions properly, but not to the golden crispy stage.

Add the turmeric powder and saute for a minute after which you add the coriander, fennel and 1 tsp pepper powder.

Cook till the raw smell disappears and then throw in the tomato.

Cover and cook till done, and the tomatoes are mushy and oil lightly appears around the edges.

Add the chicken and potato and mix well making sure you coat with the masala as much possible.

Pour in the 2 cups of thin coconut milk, enough salt and cover and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. Keep stirring in between.

Once the stew starts boiling and the chicken is almost cooked, stir in the thick coconut milk, remaining pepper powder and garam masala, and salt if needed.

Continue to cook  on medium high for another 10 minutes or so without the lid, till the curry becomes thick and oil surfaces on the top. 

Take it off the heat and keep aside.

Do a tempering with the ghee, shallots, curry leaves and meat masala (without burning the masala) and pour on to the stew. 

Cover with lid and keep aside for about 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: If using coconut milk from a can or coconut cream, remove 1/2 cup of thick milk/cream and to the rest add enough water to make it 2 cups. Stir well and then add to the curry. This is the thin coconut milk. The 1/2 cup kept aside is to be used at the end.

The stew tastes much nicer the next day

Make sure the curry gets to the 'vatticha' state and not watery. It should be thick.

Dum ka murgh (slow cooked chicken curry)

Posting a chicken curry after a really really long time. Some of us BB-ians realised it was National Curry Week and decided to do a curry post together. Of course its the last day of the event, but better late than never right? 

I love a good chicken curry. In fact its my favourite past time to keep browsing the internet for new chicken curry recipes and bookmarking every one of them that comes my way. I have a few delicious favourites, which keep making its way through to our tables, but never to the blog because I find photographing any sort of curry incredibly difficult. I keep taking pictures each time I make a nice curry, but then they never look nice. Its mostly the styling, which I'm stuck with.

Which is why, I was pleasantly surprised at how these pictures turned out. I had initially put the curry in a brown bowl and the colour combinations just didn't work. I was all ready to give up, when I thought I'll try it in the beautiful blue bowl which I'd picked up from this gorgeous Polish pottery store called Blue Dot Pottery. The red curry worked well with the blue pottery and it was a pleasure working with that set up. Half of my worries are over if I manage to get the styling right, which brings me to the Bloggers' Buzz Photography Club (#BBPC) which we run every month. We get together in a central London location, do a couple of food photography exercises and learn from each other. If you are not in London, then you can of course join us online where we'd give a theme a month. Email us at bloggersbuzzuk@gmail.com if you want to give it a go. We are all amateurs trying to learn a thing or two about food photography, so please don't feel intimidated. All you need is a camera and some food to shoot :)

I have tasted dum ka murgh at various restaurants and it wasn't really a big hit with me. I am not claiming this is the best curry I've ever had, but surely one of the nicer ones. It pairs well with naans and parathas and the good thing about this recipe (sans the frying of onions) is how you don't need to saute various ingredients at various stages etc, but just add the chicken, close with a tight lid and let it cook in its own juices. 

Recipe adapted from here and here

 

Chicken- 500 gms with bones, cleaned and cut into medium pieces

Oil- enough to fry

Onions- 2 medium, finely chopped

Cinnamon stick- 1 inch

Cardamom pods- 2

Cloves- 2

Whole peppercorn- 4

Green chillies- 2 slit (optional)

To marinate

Yoghurt- 1/4 cup

Almond powder- 3 tbsp (grind with some water to make a paste)

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1/4 tsp

Tomato ketchup/ paste- 1 tbsp (I used ketchup)

Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Mint leaves- 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Ginger paste- 1/2 tbsp

Garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Lemon juice- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions till golden brown and crispy. You need to keep stirring this at intervals, so it fries evenly. Also make sure you don't burn it.

Drain on paper towels and keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Crush the fried onions, reserving about a tbsp of it, and add to the marinade. Mix well.

Add the chicken and thoroughly rub in the marinade. Keep covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

When ready to cook, heat the remaining oil (from frying) and throw in the spices and green chilli. Sauté till it gets all fragrant.

Add the marinated chicken and fry in the oil for a couple of minutes.

Cover with a tight fitting lid, reduce heat to medium and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes.

Check once or twice in between to give it a quick mix and if you feel that the water is really less, add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup, mix well and continue cooking with the lid closed.

Do a taste test and check if salt levels are good and if the chicken is cooked. 

The curry is ready when you see a thin layer of oil that's separated from the gravy.

Garnish with the remaining fried onions and some coriander leaves just before serving.

Notes: I did the mistake of adding the almond powder on its own without grinding it to a paste and so kept getting the grainy texture in the gravy. Not pleasant, so make sure you grind it.

Its not spicy at all, so add more green chilli/ chilli powder if needed.

Add a dash of cream at the end, just before taking it off heat for some extra richness.