Chicken Masala ... 1

“Chicken Masala ... 1” … This is a medium ~ spicy delicious dish that goes very well with parathas / naans … But you can even relish it with mildly spiced pulav too … Yummy Yumz …

It had been a while since I prepared chicken curry. Due to hectic schedule and with the back to back festive season, Non-Veg takes a back seat in my home. Now that most of the important festivals are over, I decided to prepare this chicken masala, a very old dish of mine that had not been cooked for quite some years. So her is a yummy chicken curry that can be relished with roti / paratha / chapati or mildly spiced pulav. Though the curry looks a little bit elaborate as there are 3 types of grinding masala for this one. The outcome of the dish is simply awesome. Do follow the same method while preparing the dish. As taking short cuts and preparing all into one combined masala does not give the same result. I will not run into much details and go straight away to the recipe. But, do give me a feedback via mail or message or leave a comment, it encourages me to do more and share more dishes here. 

Ingredients :

Chicken Pieces : 500 gms. 

Coriander leaves : 2 tblsp for garnishng.

Fresh Homemade Butter / Amul Butter : 25 gms.

Salt to taste

** For Tempering :

Oil : 2 tblsp

Ghee : 2 tblsp

Curry Leaves : 8-10

Cinnamon / Tike sal : 2 piece 1 inche length

Pepper Corns / Miri : 6-8

Green Cardamom / Ellaichi : 3

Black Cardamom / Moti Ellaichi : 3

Star Anise : 1

** To Marinate Chicken Pieces :

Haldi Powder : 1 tsp

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 1 tsp

Salt to taste.

** Masala Paste No. 1 :

Oil : 2 tblsp 

Jeera / Cumin Seeds : 1 tsp

Cus Cus / kus kus : 1 tblsp

Onions : 2 large

Raw Rice : ½ cup

** Masala Paste No. 2:

Coconut : ½ cup freshly grated.

Curry Leaves / Kadipatta : 3-4

Coriander Leaves : 1 cup tightly packed.

Green Chillies : 4 less spicy.

Garlic : 20 (skin removed and chopped)

Ginger : 1 inch piece cut into pieces.

** Masala Paste No. 3 :

Tomato : 2 medium sized cut into pieces

Tamarind : one large marble sized soaked in ¼ cup of hot water.

** Masala Powders No. 4 :

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 2 tblsp

Coriander / Dhania Powder : 1 tsp

Jeera / Cumin Powder : ½ tsp

Haldi / Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp

Garam Masala : 1.5 tsp

Fennel / Badisep / Saunf Powder : ½ tsp

** The List of Ingredients does look long, but trust me you will love this curry. Once more I advice you to follow the recipe as given without making much changes for the awesome taste. However, you can increase or decrease the spice level depending upon individual choice. This one gives you medium~spicy level taste. 

** Wash and put the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add in the haldi powder, Kashmiri Red Chilly powder and a little bit of salt. Mix well. Do not add water. Cover and keep aside for the chicken pieces to get marinated. Say for 30-40 mins. By the time the masala is ground and the other ingredients are ready it will get marinated. 

** Now For Masala Paste No. 1 : Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai, add in the jeera fry a few seconds and then the cus cus continue to fry for a few seconds. Now add in raw rice and mix well fry for a few seconds and then add in the onions chopped to medium sized pieces. Fry till they turn slightly brownish on medium heat. Remove and grind to a smooth paste with little bit of water. The paste should be thick, so add only that much water that is necessary. Keep this ready aside. 

** Now For Masala Paste No. 2 : Dry roast the coconut till it turns slightly brownish. Now add in the green chillies, ginger and garlic cut into small pieces. Add in the curry leaves and fry for 3-5 mins. Remove and add in the coriander leaves and grind to a smooth paste. Do not add in more water. Also do not over-fry the coconut too just slightly brownish. Keep this ready aside. 

** Now For Masala Paste No. 3 : The third one is actually tomato to be pureed. Add the tomato chopped to pieces along with the soaked tamarind and the water in which it is soaked and grind to a smooth paste in a mixer grinder. Keep this ready aside. 

Masala's in the above Picture : 

1. Coriander ~ Coconut Paste 

2. Marinated Chicken Pieces. 

3. Mixer Grinder Water after ground paste is removed.

4. Masala Powders.

5. Tomato ~ Tamarind Puree.

6. Onion ~ Cus Cus Paste.

7. Curry Leaves. 

** For the Curry : Heat oil + ghee in a thick bottomed kadai / pan. When hot, lower the heat and add in the cinnamon, pepper corns, green Cardamom (slit), black cardamom (slit), star anise and fry for a few seconds. Now add in the curry leaves and fry for few seconds. 

** Now add in the masala paste no.1 ie, the onion, cus cus ground masala and fry on low heat till it cooks well and rawness of the masala goes and turns slightly brownish. Be careful, with the heat, you may burn the masala. You can sprinkle some water if need be. 

** Now add in the masala paste no. 2 ie, the coconut ~ coriander leaves etc. paste and mix well. Fry for 4-5 mins. Again be careful and sprinkle water if necessary to avoid masala getting burnt. 

** Now add in masala powders no. 4 ie. chilly powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, haldi, garam masala, fennel powder and mix well. Continue frying for some time till you get a nice aroma. 

** Note : Through out the frying process, at any point if you find the masala getting burnt / sticking to the bottom sprinkle some water as we do not want to add more oil or ghee. If you are ok with addition of more oil / ghee you can do so. But due to health reason, nowadays it is better to cut down on oil and ghee.

** Finally, now add in the tomato ~ tamarind puree and mix well. Cook on low heat till the tomatoes and all the ingredients cook well and you see bubbles appearing on top.

** Now add in the marinated chicken pieces, salt to taste and mix well. Add in 2 cups of hot water and mix well. Cook on medium heat till the curry comes to boil, then lower the heat and cook till the curry gets thickened and the chicken pieces are cooked and done. 

** Lastly add in the butter and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves. Remove from fire and keep aside covered for a good 30-40 mins. The curry thickens and absorbs all the flavor and turns delicious. If the curry has turned out too thick in consistency. Add hot water and mix before serving.

** Note : I always add in required amount of hot water into the mixer grinder vessel, once the masala is removed and mix well and use this water for the curry instead of plain water. This practice has been followed not only by my Mother but my Grand Mother too. For that matter I think it is a followed practice by almost everybody who grinds masala. I have included this tip for novice cookers so that they too start following this method. 

** “Chicken Masala” is done and ready to be served. Serve this with chapati / roti / poori / paratha or naan. Tastes awesome. You can serve this with mildly spicy pulav or rice too. But I love this dish with plain roti or naan. Do prepare this curry and relish with family and friends and remember to send me a feed back. You can prepare this curry a few hours before and reheat just before serving. The taste does not change, in fact it becomes more delicious.