Odia style desi chicken

One of the simplest n basic chicken curry from Odia kitchen. Some basic spices and a fresh country chicken are wonder when cooked with right quantity of masalas. Spices are good but overdosing them will kill the freshness n flavours of the curry. My mother in-law always cooks them as how we cook the mutton curry, she follows the same process n same masalas for this but all in the right amount - not less - not more

 

Ingredients: -

 

Sl.no	Item	Quantity
1	chicken	1 kg
2	potato	250 gm
3	onions (cut in Julienne style)	250 gm
4	ginger and garlic paste	4 tbsp
5	red chilli Powder	3-4
6	tomato (chopped)	1
7	big cardamom	1
8	bay leaf	1
9	cinnamon sticks	2 (2 inch)
10	turmeric	2 tsp
11	Salt to taste
12	mustard oil	6 tsp + 1 tsp for the marination

 

 

Method: -

 

Wash the chicken and drain away all the water. Add salt, turmeric, 2 tbsp ginger n garlic paste and 1 tsp mustard oil. Mix well and keep aside.

 

Cut the potatoes into big chunks.

 

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom Kadai.

 

Add the potatoes and fry till golden brown. Remove and keep aside.

 

Add the bayleaf followed by the cardamom and cinnamon sticks to the hot oil. Fry till they turn fragrant.

 

Add the onions, ginger, and garlic. Fry them on low flame till they turn quite red in color. Add red chilli n turmeric powder. Add one chopped tomato. Fry till tomatoes becomes soft.

 

Next add the marinated chicken pieces. Fry them till they stop oozing water. You do not have to stir continuously. Keep the lid on the cooker without completely closing it. Stir once every few minutes. This process takes a long time around 15-20 minutes.

 

Once you see that the chicken pieces start leaving oil, add 4-5 cups of boiling water along with the fried potato pieces. Add salt as per the water quantity. Close the lid and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from flame.

 

Allow steam to escape before opening lid. Check if the chicken is done, else cook for few minutes more. Serve with hot steamed rice along with some green salad. This is a divine combination.