Chicken kasha recipe- bengali style (Chicken curry)

Chicken- 600gms

Onions- 2 big onions chopped

Ginger paste- 1 tbspn

Garlic paste- 1 tbspn

Whole garam masala- cardamom(4), cloves(4), cinnamon stick(1)

Tomato- 1 (paste)

Curd- 1 tbspn

Coriander leaves

Cumn powder- 1 tspn

Coriander powder- 1 tspn

Mustard oil- 4 tbspn

Green chillies- 3-4 depending on your taste

Water

Difficulty- Medium

Time- 45 minutes- 1 hour

Method

Wash and clean the chicken. Add 1 tspn salt, 1 tspn turmeric powder, 1 tbpsn curd to the chicken and keep it aside for at least 30 minutes. (Can be kept overnight)

Heat 2 tbspn mustard oil in a pan, add the chopped onion, and fry till it gets golden brown. Let it cool. Grind it in a blender, with green chillies.

In the same pan, heat the other 2 tbspn mustard oil. Mince the garam masala, and add to it. After a few seconds add the onion paste , add ginger and garlic paste. After sometime add the tomato paste to it and fry till the oil separates. (Keep sprinkling some water to it, if it sticks to the pan- the more you fry the masala, the tastier it gets) Add cumin and coriander powder to it. Once the masala is fried very well, add the marinated chicken to it, mix well , put the stove on high, and cover the pan with a lid, till the chicken pieces start changing colour (they start getting opaque). Keep stirring it once in a while, so it doesn’t burn. This will take 2-3 minutes.

Now put the stove on medium, fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes more, keep stirring. Add ½ cup water to it, and cook till the chicken is done. Adjust the salt. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice, mishti polao, veg pulao or roti.

(You can add more water depending on the consistency you want. But chicken emits its own juice/water while cooking, so don’t put too much water initially)

Some people add potato to it. Cut the potatoes in 4 pieces and fry till they are golden brown, and add them with the the chicken.

If you don’t want to add tomato paste to it, you can double the curd. But adding tomato paste gives it a better colour and taste. 


Note: I fry the chopped onions and grind it to paste, because it makes the gravy taste a lot richer. 
My mom adds sugar to the heated oil and lets it turn brown, before frying the onions. It adds a very nice colour to curry/gravy.