Easy Chicken Curry ( Rice cooker method )

These days I am going though a lazy phase, which is quite ok considering that I have been blogging for 6 years now. I cook simple and nutritious meals that take less time and energy. Food is more about sustenance these days and I hardly feel like cooking or eating anything fancy. That gives me more time to read books (or sustenance for the soul as I refer to my best friends) and I have a big pile that is crying out to be read.

Hence, instead of the regular chicken curries that I make, I prefer cooking this one step chicken curry that hardly needs monitoring. Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20-25 mins

Ingredients -

• 500 gm chicken pieces
• 1 large onion 
• 7-8 shallots ( or one small onion diced into 4 )
• 8-9 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 inch long ginger
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 2 green cardamom
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 dry red chili
• 1 large tomato
• 3 green chilis (slit lengthwise)
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• 2 pinch garam masala
• 1/4 salt to taste
• 4 tsp mustard oil
• a dash of soy sauce (optional)

Preparation - Wash and clean the chicken pieces.

Grind the onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and dry red chili into a paste.

Take the chicken in a bowl. Add salt, turmeric, the onion masala paste, 2 tsp mustard oil and soy sauce. Mix well. Let it marinate for 30 mins.

Cooking - Heat the remaining oil in the rice cooker pan. Add the marinated chicken and toss for 2-3 mins till the color changes. Then add the finely chopped tomato, shallots, green chilis, garam masala and some of the coriander leaves. Add 1/4 cup water. Mix and cover with the lid.

Give it a gentle stir/toss after 10 mins and cover again.

It will switch off automatically once the chicken is done. Add the remaining coriander leaves to the cooked chicken.

Serve hot.

Note - This is a semi dry curry but one can increase the quantity of water to get more gravy. However we need to switch it off manually before all the water evaporates.

Goalondo Chicken Curry

I love recipes that have a story woven around them. Whether truth or fiction, a bit of folklore always seems to add that right amount of oomph or X-factor to a dish. Goalondo Chicken curry/Steamer chicken curry was created by the Muslim boatmen of 'Goalondo-Narayanganj' steamers in pre-partition India. It was an important point in those days while travelling from Kolkatta to Dhaka.

As this is a Bengali recipe that dates back to the British days, I feel honored to put a piece of history on my blog. Having read about it on so many blogs, I could not resist its charm. There is nothing earth shattering about the recipe, just a very basic rustic type with minimal spices. Due to the limited kitchen available on a boat, it was made with un-ground spices.Believe me, many of us would have already tried it out without knowing about its iconic status. Even my mother-in-law makes something like this but has long forgotten where she picked up the recipe. My husband attributes the great taste to the miraculous waters of the Ganga and Bhramaputra that irrigate the region.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 1 hour ( plus 10-12 mins extra )

Ingredients -

• 600 gm medium sized chicken pieces ( skinless )
• 3 big onions (roughly chopped)
• 2 inch ginger ( roughly chopped )
• 8-10 garlic cloves ( roughly chopped )
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2-3 green chilis ( slit lengthwise )
• 2-3 red chilis ( broken into two )
• 4 tbsp mustard oil ( no other oil plz )
• salt to taste
• 1-2 tsp tomato sauce ( my addition )
• coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation - Thoroughly wash chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the chopped onions, ginger, garlic, red chilis, green chilis, turmeric, mustard oil and salt. Mix well. Keep aside to marinate for 1 hour.

Cooking - Heat a wok. Add the marinated chicken along with the marinade. Toss on medium flame for 3 mins.

Reduce the flame to low. Cover with a lid and allow to cook without adding any extra water. It is important for the chicken to get cooked in its own juices. It will take about 45 mins to 1 hour for the chicken to become tender. ( Most of the water should have reduced by now. If not, turn up the flame for 2 mins )

Serve hot with white rice or rotis.

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.