Chicken Kasuri Methi - my cook's claim to fame!!

Chicken kasuri methi - yumm!

My rating for this dish
Food: - 8/10

Kasuri methi adds a zing to any dish. Add to that the elaborate method of cooking this chicken curry, and you got yourself tummy rumbling food! I learned this from the cook who makes food at my house everyday. Guests have had this dish and taken the recipe back home, so I figured, why not let more people into this lip smacking recipe! Here goes...

Ingredients (to feed 4-6)
- 1 kg chicken (with bones)
- 4 onions, chopped in large pieces
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 heaped tablespoons curd
- 7-8 kajus (cashews)
- 2 big black elaichis (black cardamoms)
- Pinch of haldi (turmeric)
- 1 teaspoon red chilly powder
- 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin) powder
- 2 teaspoons dhaniya (coriander) powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon of kasuri methi
- Vegetable oil

How to cook
Put 2 cups of water in a non-stick kadhai and add the big elaichis and onions. Bring to a boil and wait till you see the onions turning pink in color. Till that happens, keep adding water in case all water evaporates so that the onions don't burn. When the onions are pink, take the kadhai out of the stove and keep under a fan until the onions have become room temperature. Don't throw the water as it has a lot of the onion's flavor in it (I told you this would be elaborate, didn't I?).

In the meanwhile, make a paste of the ginger, garlic, tomatoes, curd and cashews in a mixer.

Once the onions and elaichis have cooled, make a consistent paste in the mixer (Leave the water aside, we shall use this later). Now heat 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil and fry the onion paste in it till the pink color brightens a little. This should hardly take 1-2 minutes. Then add the earlier paste to the kadhai.

Add another 1/2 tablespoon of oil and fry this paste for 3-4 minutes. Add the haldi, red chilly powder, jeera powder, dhaniya powder and garam masala powder to the paste and stir. After a minute, add the kasuri methi.

Finally, add the chicken and fry in this mixture. Remember that the key is that there should be very little water in the paste when you add the chicken, so the chicken really "fries" and not "boils".

Keep stirring continuously for 5 minutes. Now add the onion-water. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is done. If required, keep adding water from time to time. The end result should be a nice thick yellow-brown colored gravy to be eaten with rotis or parathas!

Courtesy, my cook Roma!