"Cooking is like love — it should be entered into with abandon or not at all."
The above quote then belies the title of the post "Chicken korma in a jiffy."
With fast paced living and age of nuclear households, finding time to do real cooking is indeed a constraint.
Now the easy way out would be a "take out" or just simply eating out, but considering health and wallet, both do not sound an ideal alternative.
In this post the chicken korma is simple and very unconventional!
To minimize cooking time I try to get ready substantial amounts of spices or masalas, to mention a few, things like having boiled onions, blanched tomatoes (or together boiling onions and tomatoes.) Grind the two together ensuring to remove the skin from the tomatoes. Having this paste ready will definitely cut down on cooking time. It's a good idea to lightly roast cumin seeds and coriander seeds separately and coarsely grind them, cool and store in air tight jars. I also keep this powder handy - take two nutmeg(jaiphal) and discard the shell, 11/2 tablespoon of mace strands (javitri) + 5-6 green cardamoms, grind them to a powder and store, this enhances the aroma of the dish!
Ingredients:
1whole chicken cut into 8-10 pieces
4 medium onions. (2onions boiled and 2onion sliced)
2 large tomatoes (boil along with the onions, remove the skin once boiled)
1/4th cup of oil
1/4th teaspoon black pepper powder
1teaspoon salt or as per taste.
1teaspoon red chilli powder (can alter to increase or decrease the heat level )
1/4th teaspoon deghi mirch or paprika powder (optional - mainly used to impart rich red color)
1tablespoon ginger + garlic paste
1/2 cup yoghurt whisked
2 tablespoon fried onions
1teaspoon cumin powder
11/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1teaspoon all spice powder (garam masala)
1/4th teaspoon of nutmeg + mace + green cardamom powder
3-4 green chilli slit and deseed
cilantro for garnishing!
Process:
Thoroughly wash the chicken and leave it in the colander for excess water to drain.
Boil two onions and two tomatoes together, as the skin softens, switch off the heat and let it cool.
Remove the skin from the tomatoes.Blend the boiled onions and tomatoes by passing through the blender.Keep the paste aside.
Preferably in a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and add the sliced onions, saute until translucent or light golden.remove half of it.
In the blender add the yoghurt and fried onions and blend it well.
Add the ginger + garlic paste and fry for a minute.
Add the chicken pieces and fry until well coated with the onion and ginger + garlic, keep frying, and stirring time to time.
Add salt and black pepper powder and further cook with lid on. Covering with lid will release water from the chicken and get cooked and absorb the juices and flavor from onion, ginger, garlic, black pepper powder. This process would take about 6-7 minutes. The chicken will be well browned by now.
Add red chilli powder, paprika powder, cumin and coriander powder. Fry for a couple of minutes.
Next add the onion + tomato paste and fry until well blended and thickens.
Add the yoghurt + fried onion paste, mix well. Cover and cook until the oil floats, sprinkle with All spice/garam masala powder and also the deseeded slit green chilli.
Just before switching off the heat sprinkle the nutmeg + mace + green cardamom powder, leave it covered.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with phulka or Indian style bread.
The above quote then belies the title of the post "Chicken korma in a jiffy."
With fast paced living and age of nuclear households, finding time to do real cooking is indeed a constraint.
Now the easy way out would be a "take out" or just simply eating out, but considering health and wallet, both do not sound an ideal alternative.
In this post the chicken korma is simple and very unconventional!
To minimize cooking time I try to get ready substantial amounts of spices or masalas, to mention a few, things like having boiled onions, blanched tomatoes (or together boiling onions and tomatoes.) Grind the two together ensuring to remove the skin from the tomatoes. Having this paste ready will definitely cut down on cooking time. It's a good idea to lightly roast cumin seeds and coriander seeds separately and coarsely grind them, cool and store in air tight jars. I also keep this powder handy - take two nutmeg(jaiphal) and discard the shell, 11/2 tablespoon of mace strands (javitri) + 5-6 green cardamoms, grind them to a powder and store, this enhances the aroma of the dish!
Ingredients:
1whole chicken cut into 8-10 pieces
4 medium onions. (2onions boiled and 2onion sliced)
2 large tomatoes (boil along with the onions, remove the skin once boiled)
1/4th cup of oil
1/4th teaspoon black pepper powder
1teaspoon salt or as per taste.
1teaspoon red chilli powder (can alter to increase or decrease the heat level )
1/4th teaspoon deghi mirch or paprika powder (optional - mainly used to impart rich red color)
1tablespoon ginger + garlic paste
1/2 cup yoghurt whisked
2 tablespoon fried onions
1teaspoon cumin powder
11/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1teaspoon all spice powder (garam masala)
1/4th teaspoon of nutmeg + mace + green cardamom powder
3-4 green chilli slit and deseed
cilantro for garnishing!
Process:
Thoroughly wash the chicken and leave it in the colander for excess water to drain.
Boil two onions and two tomatoes together, as the skin softens, switch off the heat and let it cool.
Remove the skin from the tomatoes.Blend the boiled onions and tomatoes by passing through the blender.Keep the paste aside.
Preferably in a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and add the sliced onions, saute until translucent or light golden.remove half of it.
In the blender add the yoghurt and fried onions and blend it well.
Add the ginger + garlic paste and fry for a minute.
Add the chicken pieces and fry until well coated with the onion and ginger + garlic, keep frying, and stirring time to time.
Add salt and black pepper powder and further cook with lid on. Covering with lid will release water from the chicken and get cooked and absorb the juices and flavor from onion, ginger, garlic, black pepper powder. This process would take about 6-7 minutes. The chicken will be well browned by now.
Add red chilli powder, paprika powder, cumin and coriander powder. Fry for a couple of minutes.
Next add the onion + tomato paste and fry until well blended and thickens.
Add the yoghurt + fried onion paste, mix well. Cover and cook until the oil floats, sprinkle with All spice/garam masala powder and also the deseeded slit green chilli.
Just before switching off the heat sprinkle the nutmeg + mace + green cardamom powder, leave it covered.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with phulka or Indian style bread.
