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 ).