Bengali Chicken Curry (Alu diye Murgir Mangshor Jhol)

Hello everybody !! Hope you are having a lovely week.

This is an updated recipe of one of my initial posts in this blog 🙂 If you remember I shared with you a home style chicken recipe when I first started this page.

This is my 3rd year of marriage, hence 3 years of experience as a cook 😀 If you are following me since the beginning thank you so much. We are growing and learning together 🙂 If you are new to my page thank you so much for your support. I will continue to improve my culinary skills to share with you better recipes in future.

Today’s recipe is a chicken curry which my mother and I both cook every week. This is like a regular chicken dish for us. I do not know how authentic / originally “Bengali” this recipe is. But this is how chicken is prepared on non-festive regular days at my home so I named it Bengali chicken curry. A comparatively less spicy, easy to digest home style recipe which all of you can try at home.

Raw papaya paste helps chicken boil faster. It also gives a nice texture to the gravy.

Lets get started !!

Preparation Time : 1 hour

Clean chicken pieces well. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, lemon juice, raw papaya paste and 1 tablespoon mustard oil into the chicken. Mix everything well. Marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour before cooking .
Marinate potatoes with pinch of turmeric powder and salt before you start cooking.
Take a pestle & mortar and just before you start cooking freshly crush the whole spices (2 to 3 black cardamoms, 4 cloves, 3 to 4 small cinnamon sticks, 4 peppercorns) into a rough powder form.

Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Ingredients :

Chicken – 650g (with bones), chopped into medium pieces and marinated
Raw papaya paste – 2 to 3 tablespoon
Onions – 2, medium, chopped into long thin slices
Garlic & Ginger – roughly crush 6 garlic cloves and 4 inch ginger
Tomato – 1 , medium, roughly chopped
Potato – 2 medium, each cut into 1/2 horizontally
Green Chilles – 4 to 6, slitted
Dry Bay Leaf – 1
Whole spices – freshly crushed powder of 2 to 3 black cardamoms, 4 cloves, 3 to 4 small cinnamon sticks, 4 peppercorns
Mustard oil – 6 to 8 tablespoon
Lemon Juice – squeeze juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt – as per taste
Turmeric Powder – 1 and 1/2 tablespoon
Red Chilli powder – 2 tablespoon
Coriander powder – 2 teaspoon
Cumin powder – 2 teaspoon

Recipe :

Take a wok. Heat remaining mustard oil in the wok.
When the oil heats up, add marinated potatoes. Stir fry them until all sides turn golden. Take them out when done and keep aside.
In the same oil add dry bay leaf. Wait for few seconds.
Add crushed ginger garlic. Stir for few seconds.
Add onions. Mix and keep stirring until onions become golden.
Now add the marinated chicken pieces. (If spices remain in the bowl in which you marinated the chicken, add 1 cup warm water and mix remaining spices with water. Keep it aside to use in gravy later.) Mix everything well.
Turn the flame to medium. Cover the wok with a lid. Stir occasionally.
When the chicken starts releasing water, add tomatoes and salt. Mix everything. Again cover the wok with the lid.
Let the chicken cook in its own water. Stir occasionally.
When the chicken is half boiled, add the fried potatoes. Mix everything well. Cover with lid.
If water dries up in the gravy but chicken is still not boiled, add the warm water mixed with spices you kept aside in step 6 into the gravy. You can add little more warm water if required later until the chicken and potatoes are completely boiled.
If chicken and potatoes are completely boiled, add the roughly crushed spice powder and green chillies. Mix well and lower the flame to minimum. Cover and wait for 2 to 3 minutes more. Check the consistency of the gravy. It should not be too thick nor too runny.
When everything is done, turn the flame off. Do not remove the lid. Give the dish some standing time.

Serve Bengali Chicken Curry hot with plain rice / pulao (sweet yellow fried rice).

Note : If you are in a rush / want to speed up your cooking , you can use pressure cooker. When you complete step 10, add everything from the wok into a pressure cooker. Add the water mixed with spices and 1 to 2 cups more warm water depending on how much gravy you want. Close the pressure cooker and wait until 5 to 6 whistles in medium flame. This process will almost give you same taste but reduce your cooking time 🙂