Before cooking, peel the skin and grind to a fine paste using a mixer grinder (or sil batta). You may need to add in a couple of tsp of water for a smooth paste
If you want to cook the chicken korma now and do not have time to soak the almond, you may use cashews (same quantity) instead. For this, boil the cashews in water for 5 minutes and grind to a fine paste
Make the Brown Onion Paste for Bengali Chicken Korma
Thinly slice the onions
In a wok, on a medium flame, add the mustard oil
When the mustard oil starts to smoke, add in the sliced onions and fry till they turn light brown
Transfer the brown onions to a grinder along with a couple of table spoons of water and grind to a fine paste
Prepare the Garam Masala Powder
In a wok, on a low flame, toast the spices mentioned under "For the Garam Masala in Easy Chicken Korma Recipe" for 20-30 seconds. Continuously stir to avoid burning
Transfer this to a grinder and grind to a fine powder. Keep aside
If you do not have the whole spices, you may use just 1 tsp of the store-bought garam masala
Prepare the Coriander Powder
In a wok, on a low flame, toast the corainder seeds mentioned under "For the Garam Masala in Easy Chicken Korma Recipe" for 45-50 seconds. Continuously stir to avoid burning
Transfer this to a mixer-grinder, and grind to powder. Keep aside
Cook the Easy Chicken Korma
The entire cooking happens on a medium flame
In the same wok where you fried the onions, add the remaining oil and allow it to smoke
Add the ghee
Add in the chicken pieces and fry for 3-4 minutes
To this add the ginger garlic paste and saute for another 3-4 minutes
Add in the nut paste and cook till you see the oil separating. When the oil separates, it means the nuts have cooked
Now separate the chicken pieces in bowl/container and in the same wok add in the coriander powder
Saute till oil separates
Add in the curd, kashmiri (or byadgi) red mirchi powder and turmeric powder. Keep stirring to prevent the curd or yoghurt from curdling
When the oil separates, add in the garam masala powder
Add the salt and the brown onion paste
Pour in 2 cups of water
Once the gravy comes to a boil, add in the chicken pieces and cook till the chicken is well done
Taste for salt and adjust if needed
Switch off the flame, and add a couple of drops of kewra water. Cover and allow to rest for sometime
Serve hot
Notes
It is important to be vigilant while frying the onions. Fry the onions only till they are light brown and immediately take them out and keep aside. If you fry any more, they will turn black after sometime and impart a bitter taste to your korma
Notice that broiler meat is used in this recipe. Hence it has been separated before cooking the nut paste. If you are using country fowl or desi murgi, you do not need to remove the meat before cooking the nuts
This recipe uses more fat, you may use other types of oil. However, mustard oil and ghee are healthy fats. More information on healthy cooking oil
You may use store bought garam masala if you do not have whole spices. However, this would compromise on the flavor
Nut paste is added in the beginning because it takes longer to cook
Adding kewra water is optional, as many people do not like the aroma/smell of it