Simply Chicken Masala

You've all heard me brag about my mother-in-law's superlative cooking skills.

And it's always been with regard to her expertise in fish preparation. With her ancestral Bangladeshi roots, knowledge about fish and fish preparation goes with the territory. It's where Bengali's prevail! This is a well known fact in India's vast and diverse culinary labyrinth.

What was unknown to me were her 'wicked' meat cooking skills!

My father-in-law has a lot to do with this. You see in first 8 years of our marriage, my father-in-law never ate any kind of meat. Fish and vegetables was the staple. It was only on one of visits after many years did we learn that my father-in-law had once again begun eating meat. This allowed so much more freedom in the kitchen which was like a breathe of fresh air to us carnivorous women!

What makes this chicken unique is the very simple and brilliant use of while spices - whole coriander seeds, an array of ground spices as well as the marinating & stewing the chicken in yogurt. These subtle variations believe it or not brings a whole new dimension to the flavor of the dish which I know you'll appreciate as much as I do.

So without much further ado, let's get cooking!

Chicken: Wash a 4-5 lb young Chicken. Using a pair of sharp kitchen shears proceed and your hands, begin tugging at the skins and start pulling it away. The skin is difficult to remove from the wings, so I just choose to leave it on.

Using sharp kitchen shears, begin cutting the chicken at its joints - thighs, breasts, wings and back.

Then cut again separating the drumstick from the thigh, back into 3-4 pieces, wing from drummette and also cut each breast in 3-4 pieces.

Place pieces in a large bowl. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water.

Assemble the rest of the ingredients -

yellow onion, fresh ginger root, garlic cloves, whole coriander seeds, whole dried red chillies (do not snap open - leave whole), whole cardamom pods, whole cinnamon bark, cumin-coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, ripe tomatoes, plain yogurt, vegetable oil, ghee and chopped cilantro leaves for garnish.

Prepare the ingredients -

Garlic - Peel & set aside

Ginger - Peel & roughly chop

Yellow onions - Peel & roughly quarter. In a rinsed out mini chopper, chop till fine. Do not allow it to turn into a paste.

Tomatoes - Wash & discard woody knob on top. Roughly chop. Set aside.

Cilantro - Wash leaves, discard stems & finely chop. Place in a bowl of water till ready to use. Discard water & drain before using as a garnish

Ginger-garlic Paste- In a mini chopper place the ginger & garlic and finely chop for a few seconds. Add 2-3 tbs water and blend to a fine paste.

To the cut chicken pieces, add the ginger-garlic paste, 1/2 tbs salt, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1-1/2 tsp cumin-coriander powder & 1 tsp red chilly powder.

Using clean hands thoroughly rub the spices and paste all over the chicken and set aside for 30 minutes.

On low-medium heat, in a large saute pan (large enough to accommodate the chicken) heat the vegetable oil till fuming. Add the whole coriander seeds, whole dried red chillies, whole cardamom pods, whole cinnamon bark, & as soon as it sizzles, add the chopped onions.

Cook's Note - It is very important to leave the whole red chillies intact. Since the heat is in the seeds, if you break open the chillies, it will make the dish too hot and uneatable.

Saute the onions over low-medium heat for about 20 minutes till onions are soft and caramelized a golden brown.

Cook's Note - Do not use short cuts here so much of the flavor in this dish comes from sauteing both the onions and later on the chicken.

Add the chicken and continue to saute over medium heat for about 15 minutes till the meat has gone from pink and translucent to white and firm.

Add 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp turmeric, chopped tomatoes and the yogurt. Saute for another 5 minutes till well blended and the tomatoes have broken down.

If you are eating this with steamed basmati rice then add 1/2 cup water at this point. If not, add 2 tbs water only.

Stir and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat to low setting and place a tight fitting lid on the pan.

Allow the chicken to cook for about 30 minutes until the meat is thoroughly cooked.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Add 1 tbs ghee & garnish with chopped cilantro leaves before serving. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice or tandoori roti, chapattis or whole wheat pitas in a pinch.

In our home this is comfort food at its best!

We invariably have a meal like this over the weekends and its something everyone including the younglings look forward to. I hope you'll give this a go. You won't be disappointed by this flavor powerhouse dinner!

Recipe for

Simply Chicken Masala

Preparation time - 20 minutes

Cooking Time - 1 hour

Serves 4

Shopping list

Young whole chicken, defrosted

2 medium yellow onions

2 ripe plum tomatoes

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

4 tbs vegetable oil

4-5 sprigs cilantro

Marinade -

5 garlic cloves

1-1/2" piece fresh ginger root

1/2 tbs salt

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1-1/2 tsp cumin-coriander powder

Whole spices -

1 tbs coriander seeds

1" cinnamon bark

4 whole dried red chillies

Garnish-

1 tbs ghee

1 tbs chopped cilantro leaves

Preparation -

Prepare the ingredients -

Chicken - Wash a 4-5 lb young Chicken. Using a pair of sharp kitchen shears proceed and your hands, begin tugging at the skins and start pulling it away.

The skin will be difficult to remove from the wings, so I just choose to leave it on. Using sharp kitchen shears, begin cutting the chicken at its joints - thighs, breasts, wings and back.

Then cut again separating the drumstick from the thigh, back into 3-4 pieces, wing from drummette and also cut each breast in 3-4 pieces. Place pieces in a large bowl. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water.