Chicken Saagwala ( Chicken in a Spinach Gravy )

Most of us would have come across a green colored chicken curry being served at restaurants. While the green hue looks irresistible to some, others may be hesitant to give it a try. My husband belonged to the latter category. That is, until I introduced him to this wonderful dish. A very interesting thing about this dish is that the taste kind of changes from region to region. I have sampled this curry in Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore whereas my husband also had a chance to taste it during a trip to Gurgaon.

The variation stems from the local greens that go into this recipe along with the staple palak or spinach. For example, they add fenugreek leaves in Hyderbad . In Pune, it is coriander whereas in the Northern regions they add mustard greens (sarson ka saag). I personally prefer going solo with baby spinach, though I do add a fistful of fresh methi leaves if I have some in stock.

Read on for my recipe -

Preparation Time - 40-45 mins

Ingredients -

• 400 gm Chicken legs ( one can use regular pieces too )
• 2 cups shredded baby spinach leaves
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 1/2 tsp GG paste
• 3-4 garlic flakes ( chopped )
• 2 medium sized tomatoes ( finely chopped )
• 2 green chilis ( finely chopped )
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• 1/5 tsp garam masala
• 2 green cardamom
• 2 inch long cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 3-4 peppercorns
• 2-3 cloves
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp oil
• 2-3 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp kasoori methi
• salt to taste
• cilantro for garnishing

Preparation - Clean the chicken pieces. Add a pinch of turmeric, lemon juice and salt. Rub all over the pieces and keeps aside for 20 mins.

Blanch the spinach. Grind into a smooth paste and keep aside.

Cooking - Heat the oil and 1 tsp butter together. Add the whole spices and fry till fragrant. Then add the onion pieces and fry till light brown.

Add the GG paste, garlic slices and green chili. Fry for 2 mins before adding the powdered spices along with the tomatoes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt. Cook till the tomatoes are done and the oil starts to separate.

Add the marinated chicken and fry on a high flame for 2 mins. Then reduce the flame, cover with a lid and allow the chicken to cook till it is 3/4th done.

Add spinach paste/puree, mix together and cook for another 5 mins.

Finally add the kasuri methi ( rub it between your palms before adding ) and the butter just before removing from the flame.

Garnish with onion rings and cilantro. Serve hot.

Picnic Chicken ( Picnic er Murgi )

This is one bookmarked recipe that had somehow gone off my To-Do list. Please do not ask "why ?. Maybe the simplest explanation is that it got lost in the huge ocean of notes that I keep making all the time. But I had fallen in love with it the very first time I read it on Bong Mom's Cookbook. In case you are curious about that name, you have to read Sandeepa's blog to believe her flair for story telling. She just makes the most everyday recipes seem so special. Do check out the original version at Bong Mom's Cookbook. When I finally decided to try it out yesterday, I found that I had run out of a few ingredients so I had to make good with whatever was available. Still it was finger-lickin good. Makes me wonder "what if..................".

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 30 mins

Ingredients -

For marination-

500 gm skinless chicken
2 large red onions
2 tbsp GG paste
2 green chillis
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp kashmiri chili powder
1/5 tsp garam masala
3 tsp mustard oil
juice from 1 lemon
salt to taste

For cooking -

3 tsp mustard oil
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 inch long cinnamon
1 black cardamom
1 Kashmiri chilli
1 big tomato ( freshly pureed)
2 sachets of tomato sauce/kethup ( the kind that they give at KFC or dominoes )
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cloves
4-5 crushed garlic flakes
2-3 slit green chillis


Preparation - Wash and clean the chicken. Transfer into a mixing bowl. First prep it up with salt, turmeric and lemon juice.

Chop one onion and half of the other into chunks. Slice up the remaining half onion.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok. Add the onion chunks and saute till translucent. Transfer into a grinder and puree them. Add to the chicken along with the onion slices.

Also add the remaining ingredients mentioned under "For marination". Mix well and keep aside for 1/2 hour.

Cooking - Heat 3 tsp mustard oil in a pressure cooker Allow to smoke. Then add the dry spices (broken dry chilli, cinnamon, bay leaf, 2 cloves and cardamom).  As soon as you get the fragrance, add the tomato puree along with sauce/ketchup. Fry till oil starts to separate.

Add the chicken and turn up heat. Fry on HIGH for 4-5 mins.

Then add the cilantro, garlic, green chilli and remaining cloves. (I ended up drizzling some more mustard oil at this point ) Mix and then add 1/4 cup water. Close lid and cook on low to medium flame for 2 whistles.

Remove from flame and allow steam to escape.

Serve hot with white rice and dal fry ( or with Luchis ).

Lagan ka Murgh ( Hyderabadi Chicken Curry )

Have been watching a lot of Khana khazana and you tube these days. While there are so many impressive recipes that I do want to try out, I have been rather partial to recipes that offer a higher ROI in terms of taste. For some reason(s), I dread spending more time in the kitchen these days.

This is one such recipe that I caught on youtube. The mind-blowing taste belies the minimal effort that goes into its making. It was a chef from Marriot (Hyderabad) who was detailing the recipe. He just threw in all the ingredients in a lagan, gave it a mix and put it on the stove. It can hardly get simpler than this. By the way, the lagan a wide and deep vessel with a thickened bottom used in Indian cooking (more like Mughlai cuisine me thinks). But the only problem was that he was measuring everything in grams. Since I do not have a weighing scale (kitchen purpose ones are easily available these days), I have converted everything into spoons and cups.

Read on for the 'asan sa' recipe -

Preparation Time- 35 mins (Includes a lot of standby time)

Ingredients -


500 gm chicken on the bones
1 tbsp poppy seeds
3 tbsp broken cashew
1 tbsp chiroli (charmagaj)
2 tbsp grated dry coconut (copra)
1 tsp red chilli powder ( I only had the Kashmir variety in stock which gave the dish a reddish hue )
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
2-3 clarified butter or desi ghee
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 cups tomato puree (freshly made)
1 1/2 cups fried onions ( I used two medium sized onions, sliced thinly and deep fried )
1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves
1 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
3-4 crushed green chillis
1/2 cup yogurt (and just a little more)
salt to taste


Preparation - Dry roast the poppy seeds, cashews, chiroli and dry coconut. The coconut should start turning brown. Remove and allow to cool down. Grind into a smooth paste with as little water as possible.

Take a lagan or a deep and thick bottomed vessel. Put in all the ingredients except for chicken
(take care to crush the fried onions before adding to the vessel ).Add 1/2 cup water and mix together.

Wash and marinate the chicken with salt and a pinch of turmeric.

Cooking - Put the vessel on medium flame. Allow the contents to come to a boil. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces, mix thoroughly and cover the vessel with a heavy lid. Cook covered on a medium low flame for 15 mins (give a stir once in a while).

Check if the chicken is done. Else cook for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from the vessel once done.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Note - I did not use coconut as I did not have any in stock but the curry still tasted heavenly. However, if you are partial to the flavor of coconut, do add it. One can also add some thick coconut milk instead.

Chicken 65

Chicken 65 is perhaps one of the most loved chicken dishes ordered as a starter. Both my South Indian and North Indian friends like it equally. Not to mention any foreigners that I have come across. Spicy and tangy this one is bound to have you asking for seconds.

Among all the stories that abound of its origin, I believe the one that says ' It was the 65th item on the menu of restaurant in Chennai and that the year was also 1965. Hence the name stuck' . However my husband believes that it is made from chickens who are 65 days old. Another version has it that 65 ingredients go into the making of this dish. But even if I tried i could not go anywhere beyond 35 ( had even started imagining some exotic spices by then ). Stories apart, even the flavor changes from region to region and restaurant to restaurant. The best I have ever sampled came from a modest place called 'Dhawat' in Hyderabad.

While it is usually distinguished by its fiery red color, I chose to omit food coloring and went with Kashmiri red chillis. These are a natural coloring agent and have been used since long time in Indian cooking. Read on for my version :

Preparation Time - 30 mins ( Plus 2 hours for marination )

Ingredients -
For the marinade - 200 gm chicken breast (use thigh if you prefer), 1 egg white, 1 tsp GG paste, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/3 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, juice of half lime or 1 1/2 tsp lime juice, 1 tsp corn flour, 1 tsp maida/all-purpose flour, salt to taste.

For the saute - 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 10-11 cashews, 3-4 dry Kashmiri chillis (or use any other medium spicy one), 2 sprigs curry leaves, 3-4 green chilli (seeded and slitted), 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves, 2 tsp tomato sauce.

For the paste - 1 tsp cornflour, 3 tbsp yogurt, 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, salt to taste. (Add a few drops of red color is using)

Oil for deep frying.

Preparation - Cut the Chicken into small pieces ( 3 cm X 2 cm X 1 cm ). Wash and pat dry with paper towel.
Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade. Add chicken pieces and mix.
Keep aside for 2 hours.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the paste. Add a little water to thin if required.

Cooking - Heat sufficient oil in a wok. Bring up the flame. Once it reaches the right temperature, add 6-7 marinated pieces and lower the flame. Fry with regular stirring so that it gets cooked uniformly. Once done ( 3 mins or less ), remove and keep aside.

Add another batch of chicken and repeat. Fry all the remaining chicken in the same manner.

Heat another wok. Add 2 tsp oil to it.

Add the cashews, fry for 30 seconds and remove from wok.

Add the green and red chillis along with curry leaves. Then add the garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Add the yogurt paste and saute for 1-2 minute.

Add the fried chicken pieces and saute on medium to high till all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from flame.

Garnish with the chopped coriander and fried cashews. Serve hot as a starter or side.

Chicken Meatballs Gravy ( tandoori meatballs in butter chicken gravy )

Preparation time - 30-40 mins

Ingredients:
For meatballs - minced chicken ( 1 cup ), chopped onion ( 1/3 cup ), garlic flakes ( 5-6 nos ), chopped coriander leaves ( 1 tbs ), fresh bread crumbs ( 1/3 cup ), egg ( 1 no ), tandoori chicken masala ( 2 pinch ), green chilli ( 1 no. ), salt to taste, oil for deep frying.

For butter chicken gravy - chopped onion ( 1 large ), ginger ( 1 inch ), garlic flakes ( 6-7 nos ), tomato ( 1 no ), cinnamon stick ( 1 inch long ), cloves ( 2-3 nos ), cardamon ( 1-2 nos ), red chilli powder ( 1/2 tsp ), turmeric ( 1/4 tsp), coriander powder (1/4 tsp), cumin powder ( 1/4 tsp), garam masala ( 1/5 tsp ), butter ( 2 tbs ), almonds ( 6-7 nos), fresh cream ( 1 tbs), tomato ketchup ( 1-2 tsp), salt to taste.

Preparation - Take all the ingredients( except for oil) for the meatballs in a food processor and blend into a smooth paste ( no need to add water ). Rub some oil onto the palms of your hands and shape the paste into lemon sized balls.

Soak the almonds for 4-5 hours. Remove the skin.

Cooking: Heat sufficient oil in a wok for deep frying. Add the meatballs a few at a time. Fry uniformly on all sides till brown. Remove from wok and put on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat for the remaining meatballs.Keep aside.

Heat 1 tbs of butter in another wok. Add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic. Fry till onion turns translucent. Add the whole garam masalas and tomatoes. Stir fry till tomatoes soften a bit. Remove from wok and allow to cool down.

Transfer into a food processor along with the almonds and grind into a smooth paste.

Heat the remaining butter in the wok. Add the above paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add all the powdered masalas along with salt and cook for 2 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Put the meatballs into the wok and cover with a lid. Let it simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Add the fresh cream and ketchup, mix well and switch off the flame. ( Add an extra dollop of butter if desired )

Garnish with onion rings and lemon. Serve hot.

Dahi chicken ( Chicken in yogurt )

Cooking Time Required: 30-35 min
Cost of Preparation: 100-110 rupees

Ingredients: Chicken ( 300 gm), onion ( 2 nos, medium), tomato ( 1 medium), ginger garlic paste ( 1 tsp), coriander powder ( 2/3 tsp), cumin powder (1/3 tsp), chilli powder (1 tsp), khada garam masala ( cardamon, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves ), oil ( 5-6 tsp ), finely chopped mint leaves (1 tbs), turmeric, whole red chilli ( 1 no. ), fresh yogurt ( 1 cup or 50 gms ), cashew/almond paste ( 2 tsp ), vinegar ( 1 tsp ), coriander leaves ( 2-3 tbs), salt to taste.

Preparation: Wash the chicken pieces thouroughly. Drain excess water . Add salt and vinegar. Rub and keep aside to marinate for 10 mins.

Finely chop the onion and tomato.

Cooking: Heat the oil in a wok. Add the red chilli and khada garam masala followed by the chopped onion. Fry for 3-4 mins. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes away.

Add chopped tomato and fry for 2-3 mins. Add 2 cups of water. Add the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Bring to a boil.

Add the yogurt and stir for a while. Add the marinated chicken pieces. Cook on a low flame for 10 mins.

Finally add the cashew paste and mint leaves. Cook for 5 mins or till all water evaporates. Remove from stove.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot with white rice.

Spicy Chicken Jholo ( with herbs )

Cooking Time Required: 15-20 mins
Cost of Preparation: 60-70 rupees


Ingredients: Chicken ( 350 gm ), potato ( 1 medium sized ), maggie bhuna masala ( 2 tbs ), mint paste ( 1 tsp ), coriander paste ( 1 tsp ), methi paste ( 1 tsp ), kasuri methi ( 1 tsp ), tomato puree ( 2 tbs ), sour curd ( 1 tsp ), cumin powder ( 1/2 tsp ), coriander powder ( 1/2 tsp ), whole red chillis ( 4-5 nos ), chilli powder ( 1/2 tsp ), turmeric powder ( 1/3 tsp), salt, oil ( 4 tsp ).



Preparation: Soak the kasuri methi with 2-3 tsp warm water for 5 mins.



Marinate the chicken with mint paste, coriander paste, fenugreek paste, sour curd, tomato puree, turmeric and salt. Add the soaked kasuri methi to the marinate. Mix well and allow to stand for 2 hours.



Cooking: Heat the oil in a wok. Peel and cut the potato into small cubes. Add to the wok and stir fry for 4-5 mins. Remove and keep aside.



Add a pinch of turmeric and whole red chillis to the wok. When the chillis darken, add the bhuna masala. Stir for a minute.



Add the marinated chicken pieces with the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Stir fry for 2-3 mins on a high flame.



Add 3 cups of warm water along with the potato pieces and salt. Bring to a boil. Close the lid and allow to simmer on low flame.



Cook for the 10 mins or till the chicken softens.



Serve hot with rice/rotis.



Note: Each paste is prepared from ground fresh leaves.

Chicken curry - oriya preparation

The traditionally made chicken curry from Odisha ! Tastes best when country chicken is used.........

Cooking time required: 1 hour (approx)
Cost of preparation: Approx. 200-250 rupees

Ingredients: Chicken pieces( preferably Country chicken )(600 gm), Potato (1 large), Onion( 1 large), tomato( 1 medium), ginger garlic paste (1 tbs), cumin seeds (1/2 tsp), sunflower/rice bran oil ( 4 tps), mustard oil(1tsp), coriander powder( 1tsp), chilli powder (1/2 tsp), cumin powder (1/2 tsp)turmeric (1 tsp ), green chilli (2 nos), garam masala( 1 stick cinnamon, 2 pods small cardamon), sugar(1/2 tsp), salt ( to taste ).

Pre-cooking: Marinate chicken pieces with turmeric, salt and mustard oil. Set aside for 1 hour.

Grate half the onion and cut the rest into small pieces. Puree/dice the tomato . Cut the potato into 4 pieces along its length, deep fry and keep aside.

Cooking: Heat oil in a deep vessel. When smoking add 1/2 tsp sugar and a pinch of turmeric( for adding color). Add the cumin seeds. When the seeds start spluttering, add chilli and onion(grated & pieces). Cook for about 3 mins.

Add the ginger garlic paste and salt. Fry the paste for about 3-4 mins. Then add tomato, coriander powder, chilli powder, cumin powder. Cook for about 2 mins.

Add the marinated chicken pieces. Cook till the chicken changes color and oil starts to separate out. Put the contents in a pressure cooker, add potato pieces, 1-2 cups hot/warm water and allow for 1-2 whistles.

Take off the fire and allow steam to settle down. Open lid , add garam masala and mix thoughly.Close lid and keep aside for 2-3 mins.

Serve with par-boiled rice and papad.