Chicken Nihari...A Royal Delicacy from Lucknow

Traditionally ‘Nihari’ was cooked with mutton or beef in the royal palaces of Lucknow as breakfast curry. The name comes from the Arabic word ‘Nahar’ which means morning. The Nawabs of Lucknow liked the mutton nihari with laccha parathas as breakfast.

It is very spicy and delicious dish with lots of whole spices grinded freshly without roasting them.

To suit me and my family’s palate, I cooked Nihari using boneless chicken and a little less spicy for my little one. And yes added few ingredients to enhance and make up for the spicy ness.

One very important fact I got from one of the site is this recipe is also a great homemade remedy for common cold and fever.  So here is my second royal dish straight from the streets of lucknow(now adays).

Chicken Nihari

Ingredients

Chicken- 2 big breast pieces around 1kg, cut into cubes/pieces)

 Onions- 3 (sliced)

Ginger-garlic paste- 2tsp

Red chilli powder- 1tsp

Turmeric powder- 1tsp

Coriander powder- 1tsp

Coriander leaves- 2tbsp (chopped)

Bay leaf- 1

Cinnamon stick- 1

Whole wheat flour- 2tbsp

Salt- as per taste

Sugar- 1tbsp (I am a Bengali, can’t miss sugar in non-veg dishes)

Dry Mango powder (Amchoor powder)- 1tbsp

Ghee- 1tbsp

Oil- 4tbsp

Water- 2 or more cups(it should be thick gravy)

For ‘Nihari’ Masala

Fennel seeds- 2tbsp

Cumin seeds- 2tbsp

Green cardamoms- 4

Black cardamom- 1

Cloves- 8

Black peppercorns- 15

Nutmeg- 1tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1

Bay leaf- 1

Dry ginger powder- 1tsp

Process

Grind all the items listed under 'Nihari Masala' into a fine powder in a mixer and keep it aside.  You can simply store the excess masala in a container for later use.

Clean and wash the chicken pieces thoroughly. Place them on a tissue and soak the water.

 Heat two tablespoon of oil in a pan or a kadhai and put the half batch of chicken pieces. Sprinkle a little turmeric powder for a brilliant colour. Fry the chicken pieces till they are golden. Repeat the same process for the second batch.

Once they are fried, take them out and keep aside. You may need to use a flat shaped spatula as because of the turmeric powder they might stick to the pan.

In the same pan, now add 2 tbsp oil, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and add the sliced onions. Fry them on medium heat till they are golden. Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, half teaspoon of red chilli powder, two teaspoon of the nihari masala prepared earlier. The masala will be very dry in the pan/kadhai. Add half a cup of water and cook for another 4 minutes. Now add the fried chicken pieces to it and cook for 5 minutes. Add salt and a cup of water to the kadhai and mix well.

While the chicken is cooking in the pan, prepared a batter with whole wheat flour and water with a smooth flowing consistency and pour it in the kadhai. Give it a good mix with the spatula. Check and adjust the taste.

 Let the chicken boil in the gravy and absorb all the spices. You may need to cover the pan/kadhai and let it cook for about 15 minutes on very a low flame. And don’t forget to stir it at regular intervals with the spatula as because of the flour, the gravy may stick to the bottom. Add the amchoor powder to the kadhai and mix well.

 After 15 minutes, remove the lid and check whether the chicken is well cooked or not. Check the taste again. If all good, switch off the gas and keep the lid on.

Tadka

Heat the ghee in a tadka pan and add half teaspoon of red chilli powder and one teaspoon of the remaining nihari masala. Fry for few seconds and add it to the cooked chicken curry.

You can garnish the chicken with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it warm with Rice or Nans or roomali rotis or even plain rotis.

Happy Cooking!!!

                                    

Lemon Garlic Chicken Curry

On a cold winter night, chicken curry and paratha is a hit in my home. Chicken is my all time favourite and I can cook and eat chicken at any time of day. 

My recipe of sweet and tangy chicken is a very quick one and a very yummy one too. 

Ingredients:

1 Baby Chicken cut into 5-6 pieces

2 small Onions chopped finely

1 can of chopped tomatoes

8 cloves garlic minced

2 tsp of Ginger grated

2 green chillies chopped finely, (You can deseed the chillies.)

Veg Oil for frying about 3-4 tbsp

A knob of butter

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 Caps of normal Vinegar about 2 tsp

1 tsp of dried rosemary herbs

1 inch cinnamon stick

1 Pinch of cumin seeds

2 tsp of cumin powder

2 tsp of coriander powder

2 tbsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of freshly grounded pepper

Parsley for garnishing

Salt as per taste, some for marinating

1/2 tsp turmeric powder for marinating

Water 1 to 1/2 cup depends on the desired gravy

Marinating the Chicken

Apply turmeric powder and salt to the chicken. Rub well and keep it aside. 5-10 minutes will do just fine.

Directions

Heat the oil in the pot.  Drop in the butter.  Add the dried rosemary, cinnamon and cumin seeds to it. Quickly add the ginger and garlic to it. Keep on low flame so that the garlic does not burn. 

Add the green chillies and chopped onions to the pot. Stir well.

Add the salt to the pot and give it a good mix. Go slow on the salt as we have marinated the chicken with salt already. The salt here will help us in cooking the onions much faster.

Cover the pot and stir in between for 2 minutes.

Tuck in the chicken pieces and mix it well with the onions and garlic and again cover.

Now, add the sugar, pepper, and the cumin and coriander powder. Mix well.

Add the can of chopped tomatoes to the pot and give it a good mix.

Pour in the lemon juice and vinegar. Check and adjust the seasoning.

Mix everything well and pour the water, cover and let it simmers for another 5 minutes or so.

Since it’s a baby chicken it will be cooked in few minutes. And it will be Sweet and sour, tangy in taste. Garnish it with finely chopped parsley and serve with rice, chapattis, paratha...your wish :).

Happy Cooking!!!

Chicken Dumplings

I am a big fan of Chinese cuisine and momos are my all time favourite. Shaping the dumplings requires lot of time, patience and work. You may need to start a little early in the evening if you are planning this for dinner. This recipe is taken from Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen from the Chinese section but as I promised in one of my earlier post, I am gonna do it with some changes. With these changes of course the effort is less and taste wise it is equally delicious. Ramsay had used minced Pork and raw Prawns for this dish but I am using stir fried chicken here. And the pastry I am using is Chinese filo pastry which is easily available in the super markets and shops. It is kept in the frozen section. They are very thin and can be used in various dishes such as spring rolls, samosas, puff patties etc. etc...

Pastry

Filo frozen pastry defrosted overnight in the fridge

Water

Filling:

250gm minced chicken. Alternatively you can mince the chicken at home by pressing and hitting it hard by your rolling pin and the chopped in to very fine pieces

2 tbsp Ginger freshly grated

1 tsp Salt or as per taste

1 tsp Pepper freshly grounded

1 tsp soft light brown sugar or regular sugar can also be used

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp Rice Vinegar

2 tsp sesame oil

1 small onion finely chopped

3 tbsp chopped spring onions

2 tbsp coriander leaves

2 tbsp veg oil

To make the filling, on a hot pan put the veg oil. Add the ginger and onions to it and stir. As soon the onions starts to turn pink, add the minced chicken to it and mix well. Fry the chicken till it turns opaque in colour but soft. We do not need to fry it hard here. Put the other ingredients such as soy sauce, vinegar, sugar to it and mix. Pour in the sesame oil, mix and add salt and pepper to it. Just before taking it out of heat, sprinkle the spring onions and coriander leaves and give it a good mix. The whole process takes around 10-15 minutes. Check and adjust the seasoning. Keep it aside for cooling now.

For shaping the dumplings.

There are various ways in which you can shape your dumplings. You can make small little bags of rice shape and little purses or potlis. If the pastry sheets are big , you can cut it out in four squares. Take 2 squares and place them on your palm, spoon in the filling mixture in the centre, brush the rim of the pastry with water and take all the four ends together and stuck in. Make a potli shape and ensure the edges are stuck together.

Alternatively, you can also fold the sides up over the filling and make little pleats with your finger tips around the rim after brushing it with water. Make the rest of the dumplings and set aside.

For cooking the dumplings.

Put a deep pan, half filled with water on gas and place a deep glass bowl in on the water. Make sure the water level should be low. It is same as double boiler kind of arrangement. You can use the bamboo steamer lined up with parchment paper. We have be careful with the water here to avoid any spillage inside the bowl when covered. Once the water starts to boil, place your dumplings in the bowl and cover the pan. It will take around 2-3 minutes for the dumplings to cook. We will need to cook the dumplings in batches and keep the cooked one under cover to stay warm.

Serve the dumplings with schezwan sauce or with any kind of tomato based sauce. Schezwan is little hot for the kids.

A little tip from Ramsay- Make large batch and freeze some for another meal. Freeze, uncooked, on a tray lined with parchment, then pack into a rigid container. Defrost at room temperature before cooking.
Click here for my quick version of schezwan sauce

Happy Cooking!!!

Chicken Pot Pies

Chicken Pot Pie is a classic American food.I have chosen this dish as my first dish from WORLD'S KITCHEN for Christmas dinner but with little changes and equally delicious. The alteration I made here is as per our taste and palette. So here it goes....

Ingredients:
1 Large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large potato, boiled & mashed
50 Gms plain flour
2 chicken breast, diced into chunks
salt n black pepper
ready made good quality puff pastry
honey, 2 tbsp
milk- 1 cup
50g butter
Some water
beaten egg for egg wash

In a deep pan, put the butter and melt. Add the chicken to it. Let the chicken coat with the butter, drizzle the honey over it and grind some fresh pepper to it. Sauté gently the chicken till slightly done. Add the onion and carrot to it and gently stir fry for about 10 minutes or till the veggies are cooked. Put some salt to it and stir well.
Add the flour to it and coat everything, now add the mashed potatoes,put the milk in it and give a good mix. Add the water and bring it to simmer and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or until thickened.(The original recipe from the book uses cream and chicken stock, but I am using mashed potatoes, milk and water here). Check the seasoning, adjust it and let it cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Spoon the filling into individual pot pies. Roll out the pastry, cut out a round shape and cover the pots as a lid. With slight touch of water, carefully press the edges to cover the pots properly. From the cut outs, you can re roll and take out designs to decorate it as wish. Brush the pastry with egg wash.
Bake the pie in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and done. Let it stand for few minutes and serve.

Serves 4, lot of variations in the filling and decoration can be done.

Happy Cooking!!!