Monday, February 1, 2010

Spicy Rustic Chicken Curry with Khada Masala for a Snowy weather.

Mother nature blessed NC with 7 inches of snow over weekend. Cold temperatures and beautiful atmosphere around home temped me to cook something spicy and rustic. This chicken curry is out come of those temptations. I didn't use any Masala powder except turmeric powder but used Combination of Khada Masala (whole spices), also avoided any grinding process..all ingredients are either cut/chopped or diced. Curry was spicy, comforting and made us feel cozy on cold snow day.

Ingredients :-
  • 4 Chicken thighs - cut into medium size pieces and marinate with salt. (alternatively-use 1 1/2 lb. chicken of your choice preferably with bones.)
  • 2 Large onions - cut lengthwise.
  • 2 Extra large Tomatoes - diced.
  • 2 inch piece of ginger -cut into 1/2 inch size slivers.
  • 8-10 garlic cloves - cut lengthwise.
  • 1 Cup pressed - chopped fresh cilantro.
  • 2 Tb.spoon cooking oil.
  • 1/2 T.spoon turmeric powder.
List of Whole spices (Khada Masala) :-
  • 2 Bay leaf - 2 inch long.
  • 10-12 whole cloves.
  • 4 Cardamom.
  • 1 Star anise.
  • 4-5 Nagkesar (optional)
  • 1 Tb.spoon whole peppercorns.
  • 3 inch long piece of cinnamon.
  • 6-7 whole red chilies.
  • 1 T.spoon Fennel seeds.
  • 1 T.spoon Shahijeera.
Method of Cooking :-
  1. Heat 2 tb.spoon oil in a heavy gauge pot. Avoid heating oil to smoking hot temperature, it should be hot enough to mildly sizzle spices. Drop first eight listed whole spices and saute for 1 minute.
  2. Add chopped onions and saute for 2 minutes on high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add fennel seeds and Shahjeera. Mix well, continue sauteing onions till they turn soft and transparent - another 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add chopped ginger and garlic pieces and stir-fry with onions for one minute.
  4. Add chicken pieces and turmeric powder. Mix all well and let it cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes till chicken turns white. Keep stirring with wooden spoon.
  5. Reduce heat to medium low, cover pot with lid and let chicken cook for 6-7 minutes. At regular interval do stir. At this stage inside steam will generate little gravy.
  6. Add half quantity of chopped tomato and little cilantro, little salt. Mix well and saute chicken on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and let it cook for 7-8 minutes in covered pot.
  7. Now add remaining diced tomatoes. Let chicken curry simmer uncovered on low heat for another 8-10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy hot with rice and roti.





Enjoy the Glorious snow scene around my home.



5 comments:

Dori said...

That looks delicious, so full of flavor! The pictures are great!

Anonymous said...

I have tried this recipe and it always comes out delicious, I applaud u for attaching pics with the recipe so it is easy to realize how the end product should look like...it is one of the best ways to cook meat...thank you for sharing:-)

Usha said...

Anonymous, I am so glad to read that you tried this recipe and it came out delicious.

Pictures are important, they inspire and guide readers to cook...also records memories for me.

Thank you so much for trying this Chicken Khada masala recipe and letting me know the results.

Please do check back after few days for more Khada masala recipes.:)

Anonymous said...

Hello, thanx for awesome recipe, I try it all the time and Everytime chicken taste better n better :-) I have a question? I want to try this recipe with goat meat, how do you think it will go? Do I change anything???

Usha said...

Anonymous, glad to see you back, thanks for trusting this curry recipe and trying it multiple times...you are sure a good cook to bring better taste at your every attempt. :)

If you are cooking goat meat with the same recipe then I would suggest few changes..also there will be three ways to cook, either entirely on stove top or using partially pressure cooker to cut the long cooking time and third is cooking entirely in pressure cooker.

1) Use goat meat with few bone pieces and also few little fat covered pieces. minimum 2.5 lbs quantity is good. Marinate goat meat with mild salt and turmeric..not too long, half an hour is fine.

2) I will not use Tomatoes but you can go as per your liking.

3) Increase little ginger and garlic quantity...1-inch ginger and 4 more garlic cloves...may be here instead of slicing, rough pounding can be done.

4) If you choose stove top method then give minimum 1.5 hour cooking time with monitoring occasionally. Use thick gauge pot..4 quarts is good size. simmering will create lot of steam water so at end you may have to cook on high heat to reduce liquids as per your taste...so it is difinitely over 1.5 hour cooking affair.

5) If you are using pressure cooker you will need few additional ingredients - Heat 1 teaspoon oil, throw in 1 small bay leaf, tiny piece of cinnamon, 4 cloves, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon minced ginger, 1/4 cup finely chopped onion...saute all for 2-3 minutes and quickly add turmeric-salt marinated goat meat. Add water until it covers meat pieces. Add little salt and pressure cook for 4 whistle. Continue cooking all other steps as meat is being cooked in pressure cooker.

6) After you add boiled meat along with stock into the Khada masala and onion base, cook for half an hour on low flame...low heat and longer time will bring good taste to the curry..Also you may need to cook over high heat to bring consitency of your liking. Cook few hours before lunch/dinner time.

7) Lastly, you can entirely cook this Khada masala chicken curry in pressure cooker...Go as per given steps..after four whistle, allow pressure cooker to cool down..remove lid and cook for 45 minutes on low flame...to get your desired consistency you may cook over high heat for some time without lid.

I hope this will help you and always do modification as per your instincts...sorry for the late reply...I will wait for your results. :)

Thanks for honoring this recipe with great interest.