FIERY CHICKEN

The son is a chicken lover, hence, I keep searching for various chicken recipes. I browse the internet to bring in variety to a meat dish. There is a basic problem with me though when it comes to cooking a new kind of dish. All of a sudden in the evening I may select a Thai Curry to cook. I have a good quality boneless chicken, a piece of galangal, even a Thai sauce, but I do not have the lemon grass. Now what? 

Most of the time I do not plan my dishes ahead. It all depends on my mood and the availability of the ingredients in my kitchen. In such a scenario this Indian does a mix "n" match cooking, of course when she is not cooking an authentic Bengali dish. Now therein comes the problem of naming it because it is not an authentic one. The same happened with this chicken curry too, it is similar to tikka masala but not an authentic enough. Hence, I named it Fiery Chicken going by it's colour, look. My men and my little guests loved it.

For this curry, I prepared a paste with ripe tomatoes, the island special red chilli padi, onion, ginger and garlic. Since I love colour in my dishes, I make a good use of Kashmiri Mirch in my cooking. The curry was thick, tangy and spicy. My South Asian root and taste bud do not allow me to go otherwise, even after repeated warnings from the senior at home. Let us proceed with the recipe.

INGREDIENTS :

Chicken : 500 gm
Tomato : 1 big sized
Onion : 2 medium sized

Red Chilli Padi : 4-5 [they are hot]
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Garlic Paste : 2tbsp
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Salt : As required
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Bayleaf : 1

Lemon Juice : 2-3 tbsp
Oil : 4tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the chicken pieces and marinate with 1/2tsp turmeric powder, salt, lemon juice and keep aside for an hour.

Wash and cut the tomatoes, discard the seeds. Prepare a paste with tomato, peeled, washed and cut onions, the red chilli padis blending them together.

Heat the oil in a wok. Temper with the bay leaf.

Add the ginger and garlic pastes, saute for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomato-chilli padi-onion paste. Stir for 3-4 minutes. Add the salt and turmeric. Add the marinated chicken. Stir well and cover.

Remove the cover and stir every 3-4 minutes. We will cook at low heat all through. This will take about 25-30 minutes.

It goes well with both rice and chapati. Get some dal, vegetables, salad on the side!