Bihari Chicken Korma

In Bihar Chicken used is fresh. People go to the meat shop and fresh chicken is cut. People never use frozen meat. The powdered masalas are known as "bukni" and people use freshly grounded spices or the bukni. The fresh aroma makes the dish even more tastier. Green cardamom is called illachi dana and I've used the freshly powdered green cardamom which gives a nice aroma to this dish. Traditionally people of Bihar say "एलैची कूच कर डालना". Hope you enjoy a slight twisted version. I've added well beaten fresh cream which gives a real twist to the whole dish.

INGREDIENTS-

 Chicken - 1 whole cut into 9-10 pieces 

Thick Curd - 2/3 cup

Saffron  - 2 tspns

Warm Milk - 1 tblspn

Whole green cardamom - 4/5

Green Cardamom Powder- 1/2 tspn

Black Cardamom - 1

Cinnamon stick - 1inch stick

Brown Onion Paste - 2/3 cup

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tblspn

Dry roasted whole red chillies and then powdered- 2-3

Dry roasted Cumin powder- 1 tspn

Dry roasted Coriander Powder - 1 tblspn

Kashmiri Red chilly powder - 1 tspn

Garam Masala Powder - a generous pinch

Salt - to taste

Turmeric - 1 tspn

Fresh Cream - 1 tblspn

Refined Oil - 2 tbspn

Ghee or Butter - 1/2 tspn

Bay Leaf - 1

Method -

Soak Saffron in warm milk. Keep aside little for garnish.

Blend well curd and brown onion paste with  powdered spices i.e. turmeric, salt, red chilly, kashmiri chilly, whole-red chilly powder, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder. keep it aside.

Heat 1 tblspn oil and ghee.

Add the chicken pieces and cook them till reddish brown like the pic.

Keep it aside.

Heat the remaining oil. Add bay leaf, cinnamon, green and black cardamom. Let it crackle.

Now add the chicken and mix well for the flavours to infuse into the chicken.

Now add the curd-onion-masala paste and mix well. This procedure is known as "Bhuno" and this process is done with patience to get that delectable flavour.

Sprinkle water to avoid burning.

Finally Add about a little less than 1 cup warm water and mix well.

Transfer into a pressure cooker and give one whistle and then lower the flame to cook for 5-7 mins.

When the pressure drops open the cooker and add the aromatics i.e. the garam masala, green cardamom powder and the left over saffron.

Switch off the gas and then add the well beaten fresh cream.

Mix well and transfer into a serving bowl.

Can be served with hot onion-parathas.

Note -

-Traditionally cream is not used in Bihari cooking in chicken. This is my version for a nice taste, weight watchers can avoid it, if desired.

-Ghee or Butter is used with the oil for an extra flavouring.

-Curd used here is fresh.

-For preparing brown onion paste - slice 2 large onions thinly and deep fry them in hot oil. Drain well. When cool blend them in a blender. Use very little water to blend. Traditionally this was done on a सिल (mortar-pestle or the grinding stone)

-For blending the curd-onion-dry spice mixture do not use the blender. Do it with a spoon.

Ghughani

घुघनी is a breakfast brunch dish from Bihar. Morning heavy breakfast is taken and people leave home for their work. Ghughani is prepared from black gram which is a rich source of protein. Having a protein filled breakfast gives energy for day-long hard work. This dish is very commonly found in all the households of Bihar. After the day's work is over and women while winding-up the kitchen make it a point to soak black gram for the following morning breakfast. In summers it can be accompanied by buttermilk (Chaas) which would create a balance as whole spices are used in preparation of ghughani. Years after years this traditional breakfast recipe is passed on to the next generation. When I travelled to Bihar (Bodh Gaya) I got an opportunity to learn this awesome dish. Prepared in mustard oil gives a lovely robust flavour to the dish. Garnished with fresh coriander leaves gives an amazing flavour and one tends to dig into the awesome bite. Traditionally women used to grind the spices in the mortar and pestle called "Silauti" in Bihar. Modern cooking - we use grinder. When the grounded masala is prepared on the "Silauti", it has the unique flavour as it's done for several minutes; the women keep on grinding adding water little by little to get the fine consistency masala. The aroma of this grounded masala is simply divine. 

The black gram has to be cleaned thoroughly and washed with several changes of water till the water runs clear and then soaked overnight for the black gram to swell up. In the morning boil chana (in a pressure cooker) with salt added as per taste. Give 5- whistles, lower the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes more. The black gram is ready to turn into ghughani.

Now coming to the ingredients -

Boiled Black Gram - 1 cup

Mustard Oil - 4 tblspn

Sliced Onions - 4 medium

Chopped Tomato - 1

Turmeric Powder - 1 1/2 tspn

Red Chilly Powder - 1 tspn

Salt - to taste

Bay Leaf (Tejpatta) - 2

For the Ground Masala -

Garlic - 10-12 cloves

Cloves (Laung) - 2-3

Ginger - 1 1/2 inch piece

Cumin Seeds - (Jeera)

Whole Black Pepper (Golki)- 7-8

Whole Dried Red Chilly - 2-3

Fresh Green Chilly - 2-3 (can be adjusted as per liking)

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick

Coriander Seeds - 1 tblspn

For the Garnish -

Chopped Fresh Green Coriander - 2 tblspn

Boiled Black Gram - 2 tblspn

Garam Masala Powder - a pinch

METHOD -

• 
  
  Prepare a masala with all the ingredients under "ground masala" using little water.
• 
  
  Heat Oil in a heavy bottomed pan (Kadhai).
• 
  
  Add bay leaf.
• 
  
  Add sliced onion and saute till it turns light brown
• 
  
  Add the ground masala. Bhuno (Saute) it well.
• 
  
  {Don't leave the masala unattended to prevent burning}
• 
  
  Add little water so that the masala does not burn.
• 
  
  Add salt, turmeric and chilly powder. Mix well.
• 
  
  Add Chopped Tomato and again saute it.
• 
  
  When the fat separation happens add boiled chana.
• 
  
  Mix well. Add some water as per thickness of gravy is required.
• 
  
  Cover and give it a boil on low flame.
• 
  
  Transfer into a prestige cooker and give 2 whistles.
• 
  
  Lower the flame and let it cook for 5-6 minutes.
• 
  
  When done transfer into the serving dish.
• 
  
  Sprinkle garam masala.
• 
  
  Sprinkle boiled chana and fresh coriander.
• 
  
  Serve hot with paratha (Indian bread).

Following picture shows without the garnish.

Rose Flavoured - Shahi Tukra

Today am presenting a superlative Indian Dessert which has been specially made for the festival Diwali. A very royal dish. I've made an innovative recipe using bread and candied Amla (Indian Gooseberry) along with dry fruits for the filling. The use of dried rose-petals and white rose essence gives it a delectable taste. When u take a bite u feel the presence of rose and with every bite u just feel like having more n more. The candied amla gives a very lightly sour taste with the extreme sweetness being candied and this just tantalises your taste buds. 

INGREDIENTS -

For the Seviyan-

Full Fat Milk - 1 1/2 ltrs

White Sugar - 2/6 the cup

Roasted (Vermicelli) Seviyan - 2/6th cup

Dried Rose Petals - 3-4 tblspn

White Rose Essence - 8-10 drops

Chironji (Charoli) – 1 tspn

Kesar - a few strands

Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tspn

Pistachio (Pista) Powder - 1 1/2 tspn

Cashew nut Powder - 1/2 tspn

Almond Powder - 1/2 tspn

Mace (Javitri )Powder - a slight pinch

Nutmeg (Jaiphal) Grated - a very slight pinch

METHOD-

Boil Milk and reserve ½ cup milk for the shahi tukra.

Reduce flame and keep boiling till the milk is reduced.

Keep stirring and this process would take about 20 minutes.

Add sugar and keep stirring.

Add cardamom, pista, cashewnut, almond, mace and nutmeg powder.

Keep stirring.

Add Chironji. Mix well.

Add Kesar strands. Stir.

Add rose essence. Stir.

Add rose petals. Stir.

Add seviyan and cook on very low flame till done.

Keep it aside.

See picture below for consistency.

For the Shahi Tukra-

White bread - 8 slices - preferably 1 day old.
Pure Ghee - 1 tspn
Refined oil - 2 tblspn for about 3 pieces of bread
Milk – ½ cup 
Sugar – 1 tspn
White Rose Essence – 2-3 drops

Method - 
  
Cut bread in to roundels like below picture: 
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Heat Oil and Ghee together in a pan.
Put bread slices and shallow fry. 
Turn sides and brown them on the other side. 
See pictures. 
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

 

Pour the reserved milk in a bowl.

Add sugar, rose essence and stir.

Dip bread slices and after 40 seconds take them out of the milk.

Place the dipped bread in the serving bowl.

See pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the filling-

Candied Amla – 10-12 chopped finely
Pista (Pistachio) – 20-25 chopped finely
Almonds - 8-10 soaked and chopped finely
Cashew nuts - 7-8 chopped finely chopped
Dried Rose Petals – a few petals

Method-

Mix well all the above ingredients.

Place 1 tbspn each of the filling on the fried bread.

  
  
  

Cover it with other piece of fried bread. 
Cover the entire bread with the prepared Seviyan. 
See pictures. 
  

 

 

 

 

Garnish with a few dried rose petals.

Serve chilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note - Refined oil and ghee are mixed together for fragrance. Ghee is absorbed by bread very quickly hence oil is used for shallow frying the bread.