Bangladeshi Chicken Tehari
When Sunday, it is customary to eat chicken and mutton at home. This week has been magical as I was on leave and got to celebrate Valentines day and my daughter’s birthday. This week has also been very good for my exercise regime and photography assignments. So, to celebrate this high achievement week I made Bangladeshi Chicken Tehari. I learnt this dish from my Bangladeshi helper in India. The dish is cooked in mustard oil. This is a two step process.
I try to make it with simple spices and could be the lighter version of any rice dishes that I make. First the chicken is cooked and then the rice is partly cooked separately. And finally these two are combined together to make this beautiful complete dish.
This dish is mainly prepared with Beef or Meat but owning to health reasons I make it chicken but the former is preferred because of it fat content.
I have a beautiful mutton pulao recipe and another splendid rice and meat recipe is Thalaserry Biryani .
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 2-3 stick of cinnamon, 2 inches each
- 3-4 green cardamom
- 5-6 black pepper
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon mace
- ¾ cup Mustard oil
- 2 Onions ,finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste
- ½ cup yogurt
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cups water
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 8-10 green chilies
- Salt, according to taste
- 1 kg chicken, small pieces
- Take an iron skillet/tawa and slightly toast the spices given here : cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, mace and grind it to a fine powder. This will be our Tehari Masala.
- Take the kadhai and heat mustard oil on medium flame.
- Add bay leaves followed by thinly sliced onion and sauté until fragrant and golden brown.
- Now add the ginger and garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes away.
- Add chicken and brown on all sides. and the ground spice.
- Cook in medium heat for about 20 minutes until chicken is cooked and tender.
- Then over low heat add the well beaten yoghurt. Add salt to taste.
- Add a cup of water and stir the chicken occasionally.
- Separate the cooked chicken and keep the gravy and spices in the pan.
- Now cover the meat and set aside.
- Add washed and drained rice and cover. Once the water boils again, add the whole green chilies and cook in medium heat.
- When rice is almost done, add the cooked chicken. Now slowly mix the chicken with the rice and I generally use a fork to do so because I want to preserve each grain of rice as a whole.
- Turn off heat but keep lid on for 20 minutes before serving. We want the flavours to infuse.
- Serve with raita and chutney.
