Keyword: bengali country chicken curry, country chicken curry, deshi murgir jhol
Servings: 4people
Author: Samrat Roy Chowdhuri
Cost: ₹ 440
Equipment
Wok and spatula
Knife and chopping board
Serving Bowls
Mixer-grinder or mortar-pestle
Ingredients
600gcountry chicken (dressed)
2pcmedium-sized potato, cut into halves
2tbspmustard oil
4pcmedium sized onions (sliced)
1inchginger (finely diced)
10pcgarlic clove
1tspturmeric powder
1tspcumin powderoptional
2tsppepper powder
1tspsugar
6pcgreen chilly (sliced lengthwise)
2cupwater0.5 litre water
salt to taste
Whole Spices
4pccardamom
1inchcinnamon stick, broken into two
6pcclove
Instructions
Wash the chicken a couple of times and marinade with a tsp of salt. Keep aside for 30 minutes
In this time, finely slice the onions and keep aside
Pound the ginger and garlic using a mortar pestle. Alternatively, you may use a mixer grinder to prepare a paste
Hob on. Put on the wok and once hot, add the mustard oil
Once the mustard oil starts smoking, add in the potatoes and turmeric powder
Fry on all sides till the potato turns yellowish-brown. This takes around 5 minutes
Take out the potatoes, keep aside. Time to cook the desi murgir jhol!
In the same wok, add oil if required
Drop in the whole spices - cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
Add in the ginger garlic paste
Saute for 15 seconds and add in the sliced onions
When the sides turn brown, add in your chicken and turmeric powder. Do not add in the eggs if your chicken had them. These should be added towards the end.
Mix and saute the chicken till it is 60% done. Country chicken takes longer to cook, hence keep a watchful eye. You do not want your spice-mix to stick to the bottom of the wok and burn. If you find it drying out, splash in some water
Now add salt and pepper. Mix both in the curry
Add water. Once the water comes to a boil, add in the potatoes and cook covered
When the chicken is done, check for seasonings and adjust
This is the time to drop in the eggs, if your desi murgi had them
Add in the sugar and sliced green chillies, reduce the flame to low, cook covered for 10-15 minutes
Switch off the flame and allow to rest for another 10 minutes
Uncover, use your serving spoon or spatula to mix in the desi murgi jhol
Serve hot with rice
Notes
While I was buying the chicken, the butcher suggested that I cook the chicken in pressure cooker (1 whistle). I did not follow. If you want to reduce the cooking time, you may follow this method
It is always better to use freshly ground pepper for best flavors
You can reduce the number of green chilies if required. Personally, I like the zingy aroma
As mentioned in my blog, curd and tomatoes are not used in this recipe
Always add the chicken eggs towards the end and never at the beginning
To get 600 gram of meat, you would need one whole chicken of around 1100-1200 grams