Chicken with Cucumber
Ingredients:
•Chicken 500g
•Cucumber 2pieces
•Green chilli – few pieces
•Green chilli paste – ½ tbsp
•Cucumber paste – 1 tsp
•Cumin powder – 1 tbsp
•Whole garam masala
•Black pepper powder – 1 tbsp
•Garam masala powder – ½ tbsp
•Whole cumin
•Coconut milk – 1 cup
•Cooking oil – as required
•Salt- to taste
Method
Firstly, clean the chicken properly. Then marinate it with the cucumber paste and green chilli paste for 30 minutes. Then heat the oil in the kadai for sometime before adding the chopped cucumbers to it. Once fried well, set the cucumbers aside. Add whole cumin and whole garam masala to the same oil, before adding the marinated chicken to it. When the chicken is cooked well, add coconut milk to it and cook till the milk gets thick. Once the milk becomes thick, add the fried cucumbers and a few pieces of green chilli to it. Finally, before removing from the oven, add garam masala powder.
Chicken with cucumbers is ready to be served. This dish would taste even better with roti, paratha, pulao or fried rice.
Recipe by winner Kakali Biswas
Murg Musallam
Ingredients:
•W•hole chicken (1kg 200g)
•Ginger garlic paste 2.5tbsp
•Red chilli powder 2tbsp
•Kashmiri red chilli powder 1tbsp
•Black pepper powder 1tsp
•Salt
•Lemon juice 1tbsp
•Cumin powder 2tsp
•Keora essence 1tsp
•Garam masala powder 1tsp
•Onion 2 medium sized (chopped)
•Tomato 5 (chopped)
•Turmeric powder ½tsp
•Coriander powder 1tsp
•Fresh coriander leaves
•Cashew nuts 7
•Almonds 7
•Poppy seeds
•Green chilli 1
•Yoghurt 5tbsp
•Whole spices- (Cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper corns)
•Boiled eggs 2
•Oil
For chicken marination:
Wash the chicken thoroughly and clean it before you start the marination. Then make some deep cuts in the body, legs and thigh portion of the chicken so that all the spices get inside.
Then in a bowl we have to add 3tbsp yoghurt, ginger garlic paste, 1tsp cumin powder, garam masala powder, red chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, black pepper powder, salt as required, lemon juice and ½tsp keora essence.
Mix all these spices well and apply it over the chicken thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight.
For stuffing inside chicken:
Boil 2 eggs and then prepare the masala.
In a frying pan, pour some white oil and fry 2 medium-sized chopped onions, 1tbsp ginger garlic paste, 1tsp red chilli powder, 1tsp garam masala powder, ½tsp turmeric powder, 1tsp cumin powder, 1tsp coriander powder, a few coriander leaves and salt as needed. Fry the spices and after the raw smell of the spices goes away, add 1 small chopped tomato.
Add the boiled eggs and fry them well with the masala on low flame. Now our stuffing is ready.
For frying the chicken:
Before frying the marinated chicken, add the egg stuffing inside the chicken and then stitch the legs of the chicken with a thread well so that the stuffing does not come out while cooking and also so that the legs of the chicken do not spread much while cooking.
Next heat 2tbsp of white oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken keeping the breast portion down at first. Take care to fry the chicken from all sides on low to medium flame until colour appears.
While the chicken is getting fried nicely, prepare the rest of the musallam gravy.
For that, in a mixer-grinder make a fine paste of all the whole spices (3 cloves, 3 cardamom, 2 small cinnamon sticks, 3 pepper corns), 1tbsp poppy seeds, 2tbsp yoghurt, 7 cashews nuts, 7 almonds, few coriander leaves and a green chilli.
Now in another kadai, heat some oil and add 2-3 medium-sized chopped onions. When the onions turn brown in colour add 3-4 medium sized chopped tomatoes, 1tbsp ginger garlic paste and fry them well until oil separates out. Then add 1tsp red chilli powder, 1tsp cumin powder, 1tbsp coriander powder, little bit of salt and few coriander leaves. The masala has to be fried until its texture turns grainy. Now add the paste which was prepared out of the whole spices and nuts. Lastly add ½tsp keora essence. The masala has to be cooked well until colour changes and oil separates out. Now our musallam gravy is ready.
Add this gravy to the roasted chicken. A little water has to be added at this stage so that the chicken does not become too dry. The chicken should be mixed well with the gravy, covered and cooked on low flame for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, check whether the chicken becomes soft and tender, and accordingly switch off the flame.
For garnishing, add fresh coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Our Chicken Murg Musallam is ready to be served.
Recipe by first runner-up Pousali Bose
Pan-Fried Chilli Chicken
Ingredients:
•Boneless chicken 500g
•Red and green bell peppers cut into cubes
•Onion diced -2
•Cloved garlic 6-8 (julienne cuts)
•Green chillies slit vertically- 6
•Spring onion finely chopped
•Vinegar and Salt
•White oil - 3tbsp
For coating: -
1) Soya sauce- 1 tbsp
2) Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
3) Egg - 1
4) Corn flour - 1 tbsp
For Sauce: -
1) Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
2) Red chili sauce- 2 tsp
3) Tomato sauce- 2 tsp
4) Honey- 3 tbsp
5) Black pepper powder- 1 tsp
Method
Cut the chicken in small cubes. Marinate it in soya sauce, ginger garlic paste, egg, corn flour, salt for one hour. Marinate slit green chilli in vinegar.
Heat a pan, add white oil and fry marinated chicken pieces until they are brown. While the chicken is frying, prepare sauce in a mixing bowl.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, add chopped garlic and saute for a few seconds. Add onion, bell pepper, green chilli marinated in vinegar. Mix and cover. Let it cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the prepared sauce and mix. Add fried chicken pieces and sprinkle chopped spring onions. Cook for five minutes on low flame and remove from heat. Garnish with spring onion and serve.
Recipe by second runner-up Mita Bhadra