Bangladeshi chicken roast

11:47 AM

Sorry for being MIA for sometime. First the Sonny boy's half terms kept me busy and then had to travel all the way to home at Santuniketan for the arrival of the littlest bundle of joy-my Nephew. His arrival kept my hands and heart full. We returned a couple of days back, just in time to clean the house and prep for Durga Puja.

Thank you to all of you who mailed and messaged me to inquire about my whereabouts and asked for recipes. sorry again for not being able to answer in time. Hopefully now will be able to post the recipes you have requested for one by one.

Today am posting this delectable recipe of Bangladeshi Chicken Roast, A scrumptious, creamy, nutty, delightful gravy with big juicy pieces of chicken thighs in it. It's a staple at home whenever we need some pick me up without going overboard with cream, ghee or spices, we cook this.

I first tasted it long back in my childhood when maa's Bangladeshi friends from Santiniketna art college used to claim our kitchen on holidays and prepare a feast. I was very small then and it never crossed my mind to write down the recipe but Maa did. Many moons later, few years back when fellow blogger Archita cooked this dish for a fun competition and I was going gaga about how awesome it looks, Maa smiled and took out the hand written recipe for me to copy. Over Time I saw more recipes and tweaked it here and there.

She and I are both old school in this way. We love our hand written recipe diaries. She even used to egg me to write down new recipes in her diary whenever she liked something I cooked. She had a constant hunger to learn and was never ashamed to ask and learn even from kids quarter he age. It's a big learning that she transferred on me with everything else that I know now.

Here it is, a very simple yet quite elegant dish which you can easily prepare to impress your guests.

Now here's a few pointer about the meat. I used leg quarters from medium size chickens. If you can lay your hands on cornish hen then cut that in 4 and use to make this recipe.

Bangladeshi Chicken Roast

Ingredients:

Chicken leg quarters: 4

Onion: chopped: 11/2 cups

Onion Paste: 3/4 cup

Ginger garlic paste: 1 heaped tablespoon

Coriander powder: 2 tsp

Chili powder: 2 tsp

Kashmiri Chili: 1 tsp

yogurt: 3/4 cup (USe homemade or fresh thick Greek style yogurt/ Mother dairy)

Cashew nuts: 1/2 cup (soak in warm water)

Tomato sauce: 1 tbsp

Bay lead : 2

Whole garam masala: green cardamom (1), Cloves (2), Cinnamon (1/2"), Mace (small piece)

Salt

For the spice powder:

Mace: 1./2 of a flower

Nutmeg (use 1.3 of a marble size nutmeg)

Cloves: 6-7

Cinnamon: 2" piece

Green cardamom: 2-3

Oil: 1/2 cup

Ghee: 2 tbsp

Meetha Ittar: 1/3 tsp

Keora water: 1 tsp

Milk" 1/2 cup

Method:

Soak the cashews for 30 minutes.

Wash and clean the chicken thighs and make a few slits all over it. Rub with little salt and keep aside for 30 minutes.

Dry roast everything (except nutmeg) together under spice powder on low flame. grind to a powder.

Make a paste of the cashews and mix the yogurt till smooth. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai or frying pan. Place the chicken pieces (2 at a time) and cover. This will splatter a lot so be very very careful. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side till light brown spots start to appear on it. Take out and drain. Keep aside.

In the same oil add 1 tbsp ghee and let it heat. Add lightly pounded whole garam masalas and bay leaves. Once they start to splutter add the chopped onion and pinch of salt. Cook on medium for 2 minutes then add the pastes. Cook on medium till the spices turn brown. I add a tablespoon of water midway through cooking. It takes close to 8-10 minutes. Now add the corainder powder, salt, chili powder with a tablespoon of water and cook through.

Next tip in the yogurt mixture and cook. Add the sauce. Cook on low for another 5-6 minutes till the fat starts to ooze out. Mix in the spice powder, grate in the nutmeg and add 1 cup warm water. Once it starts to bubble add the milk. Mix and place all the chicken pieces. It helps if you have a big flat cookware to lay the chicken in single layer. Other wise place them in such a manner that the meaty parts are immersed in the gravy for better absorption of flavour ans taste. Cover and let it cook on medium.

Make sure to stir the bottom form time to time or the nuts will stick at the bottom. It will take 10-12 minutes for the gravy to thicken. Then uncover and do a taste test. Adjust seasoning. Cook it further till you end up with a coating gravy and separated fat. Finish with 1 tbsp ghee, Keora water and meetha Itar.