Chili Chicken

Chili chicken is probably more Indian than Chinese, we have owned it. My first tryst with chili chicken was at my hometown, Agartala. Chinese was not a rage like it is now; and Abhishek  restaurant  was probably the first so called ‘modern’ restaurant of Agartala. Until then, I was exposed only to the classic Bengali Chicken Curry with potatoes. Similar to many other Indians, chili chicken was first ‘International cuisine’ for me. A plate of chili chicken and fried rice… it’s heavenly. My search for the perfect chili chicken has taken me from Abhishek to Hatari, from Mainland China to Tangra .I have had experienced cuisines from different parts of the world, but chili chicken still holds a special place in my heart… So, Let’s get started.

 

Ingredients:
1. Boneless and skinless chicken cut in to small pieces (I have used 500 grams)
2. Soy Sauce (1 tablespoon or to taste)
3. Chili Sauce (2 tablespoon or to taste)
4. Tomato ketchup (1 tablespoon or to taste)
5. White Vinegar (1 tablespoon)
6. Red, Yellow and Green Bell Pepper (1/2 cup each, seeds removed and cut into cubes)
7. Salt to taste
8. Black pepper to taste
9. Corn-starch (1.5 tablespoon)
10. Oil (3 tablespoon)
11. Ginger Paste (1 teaspoon)
12. Garlic (2 teaspoon)
13. Green Chilies (3, slit)
14. Onion (2, medium size, 1 chopped and other cut into cubes)
15. Dry red chili (Optional)

Method:
1. Take the chicken pieces in a bowl; add a pinch of salt, soy sauce and half a teaspoon of corn-starch. Mix everything well and keep aside for 10 minutes
2. In a pan heat 2 tablespoon of oil. Add the chicken pieces. Fry the chicken pieces from all sides and make sure the pieces don’t stick together.
3. Lower the flame and, let the chicken pieces cook properly. To be sure, cut a chicken piece into half and check the color of the broken pieces. If they white inside, they are properly cooked.
4. Remove the chicken pieces from the flame; place them on a tissue paper to soak the excess oil.
5. In the same pan add one tbsp of oil; let it warm up and add the dry red chili, garlic and cook them for 20 seconds
6. Add the ginger paste and chopped onions; fry them for one minute
7. Add the bell pepper and cubed onions. Give it a good mix it and let it cook for another 2 minutes
8. In a cup, mix all the sauces as per your taste and pour the sauce mix into the hot pan
9. Add the vinegar, green chilies and a bit of salt. Be careful about the salt because soy sauce already contains salt
10. Add black pepper powder
11. To make the gravy thick, mix the rest of the corn-starch with a 1/2 cup of water and add this mixture to the gravy
12. Check the salt and adjust accordingly
13. Add the fried chicken pieces
14. Mix everything and make sure the sauce coats the chicken pieces and the veggies
15. Once done turn off the flame

Enjoy this with noodles or fried rice.

Mo

Chicken in coriander leaves gravy

Bengali’s are known for their love for fish, but that doesn’t mean that they have any less love for chicken. There are thousands of variations of chicken curry found in different parts of Bengal. Every household has a different formula for their perfect chicken curry. Today I am going to tell you about a not so common chicken recipe, the “Dhone-Pata-Chicken” (Chicken curry in coriander leaves gravy). This extremely tasty chicken curry has a distinctive green color. Although it may seem that this green colors comes from the coriander leaves, but it actually comes from the secret ingredient spinach. Lets get started.

Ingredients:
1. Chicken (500 grams, cut into small or medium pieces)
2. Coriander leaves (100 grams, roughly chopped)
3. Garlic (1 tsp paste and 4 whole cloves)
4. Onion (1 medium size, sliced)
5. Green chilies (2 whole green chili and 2 sliced)
6. Red dry chili (1)
7. Spinach (Boiled for 1 minute, 400 grams)
8. Turmeric  powder (1 teaspoon)
9. Coriander powder (1.5 tablespoon)
10. Red chili Powder (1 teaspoon)
11. Oil (3 tablespoon)
12. Salt to taste
13. Panch phoron (1 tsp)
14. Ginger  paste (1 tsp)

Method:
1. Before we start cooking, we need to marinade the chicken, for marination add 1 tsp oil, ginger and garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chili powder. Mix them well and keep aside for 30 minutes at least.
2. In a blender, add the coriander leaves, boiled spinach, 2 green chilies and 4 garlic cloves; make a smooth paste.
3. Take a heated pan add 2 tbsp of oil, let the oil heat up.
4. Add the dry red chili and panch phoron mix. Let them splutter.
5. Add the onions, fry them till they become translucent
6. Add salt to taste
7. Add the marinated chicken and give it a good mix. Cook it for 7 minutes in high flame
8. Add water; mix the water and put the lid on; cook it until the chicken becomes soft
9. Add the sliced green chilies
10. As soon as the chicken pieces become soft, add the coriander and spinach paste. If it becomes too thick, add water as per your preference
11. Cook it for another 6-7 minutes
12. Before switching off the flame check the salt

Note: 
1. Do not put the lid when you are boiling the spinach
2. For this recipe you can use any type of cooking oil
3. Coriander leaves and spinach are the most important ingredients. Make sure they are fresh.
4. You can cook this recipe less then 3 tbsp of oil, if required
5. You can add little bit of vinegar during marination in case you want to remove the raw smell of chicken

*Panch-Phoron is an authentic Bengali spice mix used in most of the Bengali vegetarian dishes. It includes Cumin seeds, nigella seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel Seeds, mustard seeds. All of these are mixed together together to make panch-phoron mix.

You can pair this healthy chicken recipe with steamed rice, chapati, naan-bread or paratha.

Enjoy
Mo.

Phish-Phash

The British ruled India for two centuries, how much India gained from them and how much they took away from us is topic of debate. But, among the things it has given us one of the most beautiful thing is Anglo-Indian cuisine. It is the cuisine that developed during the British rule in India, as the British wives interacted with their Indian cooks. It has had its share of Portuguese influence too. One of the lesser known but really tasty and healthy Anglo-Indian dish is Phish-Phash. It is a combination of chicken and rice infused with exotic spices. You can also cook the same dish with mutton.

Ingredients:
1. Any fragrant rice (1 cup)
2. Chicken (500 grams, cut into small or medium pieces)
3. Onions (One medium size, cut in to cubes and another one sliced)
4. Ginger and Garlic paste (1 tea spoon each)
5. Green chilies ( Make paste of 3 chilies and slit 3 chilies into halves. You can adjust the number of chilies as per your preference)
6. Cashew nuts (10)
7. Raisins (7-8)
8. Salt  to taste
9. Milk (1/2 cup)
10. Cinnamon (1 stick)
11. Cardamom (3-4)
12. Cloves (3-4)
13. Black pepper (2-3)
14. Red lentils or Masoor dal (1 table spoon)
15. Butter (2 table spoons)
16. Oil (1 teaspoon)
17. Bay Leaf (1)

You can cook this either in pressure cooker or in a heavy bottom pan. I have used pressure cooker here for quicker results. If you don’t have pressure cooker, you can cook in low flame with lid on for 20 minutes.

Method:
1. In a heated pressure cooker pan, add 1 tbsp butter and let it melt
3. Add all the whole spices; let the butter absorb the aroma of the spices
4. Add the chicken; flip them over a few times so that the chicken pieces are covered by butter on all sides.
5. Add ginger, garlic and green chili paste
7.Add the lentils and rice. Give it a good mix. Don’t worry about the chicken pieces getting broken. It’s exactly what you want.
6. Add the cubed onions and slit green chilies
8. Add salt as per your taste
9. Add the milk and the rest of the butter and give it a gentle mix
10. Add water; make sure everything is covered in water and nothing is left out
11. Cook it 3 whistles and your Phish-Phash is ready. (You may need to cook for 4-5 whistles in case you are using mutton)
12. Take a hot pan add the oil and fry the sliced onions till they become slightly brown. Use the fried onions for garnishing.

Enjoy.

Mo

Chicken Kosha

Chicken Kosha is, has always been and will always be my favorite preparation of chicken. It’s a greasy and spicy chicken cooked in Bengali household on special occasions. Paired with Luchi, it’s heaven on your platter. You can also have it with Yellow Pulaw or even plain rice. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:
1. Chicken (1 kilogram, washed and cut into pieces)
2. Capsicum (1/2, Medium sized)
3. Onion (4, Medium sized, chopped)
4. Tomato (1, Medium sized)
5. Curd (1 tablespoon)
6. Red chili powder (2 teaspoon)
7. Cumin powder (2 teaspoon)
8. Bay leaf (1)
9. Green chili (4, sliced)
10. Mustard oil (8 tbsp)
11. Salt to taste.
12. Cinnamon (1 stick)/Cardamom(4)/Clove(2)
13. Garam Masala powder (1 tsp)
14. Ginger paste (1 tbsp)
15. Garlic paste (1 tbsp)

Note: Here I have used Bengali Garam Masala which is combination of Clove, Cinnamon and Cardamom. You can make your own by grinding them together.

Method:
Grind capsicum and tomato and make a thick paste of them.

Before we start cooking, we need to marinade the chicken. For marination add the dry spices (cumin powder, red chili powder), salt and ginger-garlic paste to the chicken. To this add the tomato-capsicum paste and mix the whole thing well. Add 2 tablespoon of mustard oil and give it another good mix. We need to keep this aside for 30 minutes at least.

Heat a heavy bottom pan and, pour 6tbsp of mustard oil. Once the oil is hot, add the sliced onions. Saute the onions till they become a bit brownish and then add the marinated chicken. We need to fry both sides of the chicken pieces for 7-8 mints in high flame. Lower the flame; cover it with a lid and let it cook for 15 minutes. In between you need to check if the chicken has become very dry; in that case, sprinkle some water, give it a stir and continue cooking it under cover. You need to cook till the chicken becomes soft and make sure you don’t burn the chicken. I like the gravy to be a bit greasy; so I didn’t add water at all and cooked the chicken in low flame. You may add water if you want your gravy to be a bit runny. Add a teaspoon of Garam Masala powder and give it gentle mix. Chicken Kosha is ready.

Enjoy.

Mo

Shrimp in mustard and coconut paste

Shorshe-Narkol diye chingri is one of my favorite dishes. It’s quick and easy to cook and good to eat. If you have cleaned shrimp ready, you can cook this up within 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
1. Shrimps of medium size (250g)
2. Coconut Flesh (50g)
3. Yellow mustard seeds (2 teaspoon)
4. Onion (1 big onion chopped)
5. Green chilies (1 whole, 4 slit)
6. Garlic Cloves (5-6 coarsly chopped)
7. Coconut Milk (Optional)
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric (2 teaspoon)
10. Cumin powder (1 teaspoon)
11. Mustard oil (2 tablespoon)

Steps:
Marinate the shrimps with a pinch of turmeric and salt for 5 minutes. While the shrimp is getting marinated, prepare the paste for curry. Put yellow mustard seed, 1 green chili and coconut into the grinder and make a coarse paste. If the coconut is very dry, you may add a tablespoon of water to it and grind.

Shallow fry the marinated shrimp in mustard oil very gently for two minutes. Keep the flame low and make sure you don’t break the shrimps in the process.

Heat mustard oil in pan. When the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic and let the oil soak the aroma of garlic for half a minute. Add the chopped onions. Add a teaspoon of salt to this and fry the mix until the onions become translucent. Add the remaining turmeric and cumin powder to the onion and fry for a minute. Add the mustard-coconut paste to this and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the fried shrimps and a bit of coconut milk to this. Add the rest of the slit green chilies. Cover this with lid and cook for 2 more minutes. Shrimp in mustard and coconut paste is ready. Serve this with steamed rice and don’t dare to pair this with Roti!!!

Enjoy.

Mo