Murgi-r Jhol - Bengali Chicken Curry

With all the hubbub of going home in 2 days it was impossible to make something impressive & post it too. I thought of making the evergreen ‘Murgi-r Jhol’ (Bengali Chicken Curry) which will survive us for the next 2 days in a jiffy; but with all the pending packing and 9 hours of slogging daily at work, taking out the DSLR and clicking delectable pictures of the process seemed unattainable. I resorted to the phone camera and clicked only the final dish.

As mentioned earlier, I made this in a jiffy, literally. My ‘Sheila Mausi’ came in the morning and sliced up the Onions, Tomatoes, Green Chillies & left it in the Refrigerator. I went home, marinated the Chicken for 30 minutes, blended the Tomatoes, Onions and Green Chillies, grated the Ginger & Garlic, cut some medium Potatoes into halves and fried them & finally Pressure Cooked all this with the required Spices. The result is here.

‘A’ (Hubby) finished his plate of ‘Murgi-r Jhol’ with some plain white Rice & said it was splendid; I told him, “I will put this up on the blog, make it whenever I am not home & you are hungry”.

Here is what you will need to make ‘Murgi-r Jhol’:

For the Marinade:

Chicken – 750 gms cut into medium pieces

Curd – 2 tsp

Ginger paste – 1 tbsp (I grated the Ginger)

Garlic paste – 1 tbsp (I grated this too)

Onion – 1 small or half of a medium – I grated this into the Chicken

Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp

Mustard Oil – 1 tsp

Mix all this together and let them sit for 20 minutes. As I said, I was running out of time. You can easily keep this for 1 hour, the longer the better.

Other Ingredients for the Curry:

Mustard Oil – 2 tbsp

Bay Leaves – 2

Whole Dry Red Chillies – 2 – broken from the centre

Cinnamon – 1” stick

Green Cardamoms – 4

Black Cardamoms – 2

Cloves - 5

Onions – 3 medium, made into a paste in the blender

Tomatoes – 2 small, puréed

Green Chillies – 4-5 – I blended these with the Onions and added

Potatoes – 3 – halved and tossed around in some Mustard Oil for a few minutes

Cumin Powder – 1 tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Handful of Coriander leaves for garnishing

Sugar – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

·         In some Mustard Oil,  toss the halved Potatoes around for a few minutes and keep. I do not prefer to put them in raw

·         Heat Mustard Oil in a Pressure Cooker

·         Add the Bay Leaves, Dry Red Chillies, Cinnamon, Green and Black Cardamoms, Cloves and let them sizzle for a minute

·         Add 1 tsp of Sugar

·         Add the Onion and Green Chilli paste – wait till the color changes to a mild golden

·         Add the puréed Tomatoes, cook for a few more minutes

·         Add the dry spices in now, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Red Chilli Powder & Garam Masala Powder and cook till the spices are cooked through

·         Add the marinated Chicken pieces into this, DO NOT add the marinade; keep it for adding later

·         Add the fried Potato halves

·         Cook for a few minutes and see the texture of the Chicken pieces changing

·         Add Salt to taste

·         Add 3/4^th cup of water to the remaining marinade, mix and add to the Chicken

·         Close the lid of the Pressure Cooker, set the flame to high and let it whistle 5 times.

·         Let the pressure go down on its own

·         Open the lid and pour it out into a serving bowl

·         Garnish with some chopped Coriander leaves

·         Eat with plain white Rice

You enjoy your ‘Murgi-r Jhol’ while I finish my packing & head home! It is Durga Pujo folks !!

This picture was taken at 'Nabapalli Sangha', Tollygunge Circular Road, Kolkata last year, 2011. 

& my Calcutta is calling me :D

Will be back on the day of Laxmi Pujo, 29^th