Last December when I was pregnant with Ayaan, I had invited few of my friends and their parents (who were visiting them) to dinner. I told aunty that I love chicken and she told me she will make something for me. She had only 1-2 weeks until she returned to India. She was very sweet to take out time in the busy schedule to cook and send a big batch of chicken curry.
If there is one spice that is commonly used in Indian cooking that I cannot stand, it is black cardamom. I have tried it in different ways and somehow I never liked the aroma of it. But that cardamom did something magical to this chicken curry. It reminded me the chicken curry that I used to love eating in restaurants back home. I won’t lie, I did not want to share it with V or Ishaan. Yes, I was very mean. Comeon, I was 7 months pregnant and someone had sent me something that I really loved. I must have given them just few spoons of curry and I pretty much finished everything else. Then I asked aunty for the recipe and she was very kind to share it with me.
I have tried this couple of times. I did not want to buy black cardamom for this one dish, so I prepared it without that few times. But it never came out like aunty’s. Then I bought a small pack of black cardamom and tried again and it made such a huge difference to the curry.
Pictorial: Half cook the chicken in spices. Heat oil and fry whole spices, ginger-garlic paste. Add the powders, fry for few minutes. Add chicken and cook.
Chicken Curry with Black Cardamom
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 cup roughly chopped onion this will go into paste
- 1 cup of dry coconut
- 2 tbl spn poppy seeds khuskhus
- 1 tbl spn sesame seeds til
- 2 tbl spn ginger garlic paste
- A pinch turmeric
- 2 tbl spn coriander powder
- 1 tbl spn red chili powder
- 1 tbl spn spn garam masala
- 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
- Salt
Whole spices :
- 2 " cinnamon
- 2-3 cloves
- 3-4 black cardamom masala velchi/moti elaichi
- 3-4 peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Dry roast poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dry coconut, cool them and grind to powder.
- In a pan, heat oil and fry the roughly chopped onion till they are golden brown and grind to a paste.
- Heat oil and add finely chopped onion, 1 tbl spn ginger garlic paste.
- Fry till the onions are translucent.
- Add turmeric, coriander powder, red chilli powder, fry for a minute.
- Add the chicken, salt and cook till chicken is halfway cooked.
- In a separate pan, heat oil and add whole spices.
- Add remaining ginger-garlic paste, ground coconut, poppy seeds, sesame seed powders, onion paste, cardamom powder, garam masala.
- Fry for few minutes and then add the half cooked chicken.
- Add water to bring it to required consistancy. Adjust salt.
- Serve hot.
Chicken Curry with Black Cardamom
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 cup roughly chopped onion this will go into paste
- 1 cup of dry coconut
- 2 tbl spn poppy seeds khuskhus
- 1 tbl spn sesame seeds til
- 2 tbl spn ginger garlic paste
- A pinch turmeric
- 2 tbl spn coriander powder
- 1 tbl spn red chili powder
- 1 tbl spn spn garam masala
- 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
- Salt
Whole spices :
- 2 " cinnamon
- 2-3 cloves
- 3-4 black cardamom masala velchi/moti elaichi
- 3-4 peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Dry roast poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dry coconut, cool them and grind to powder.
- In a pan, heat oil and fry the roughly chopped onion till they are golden brown and grind to a paste.
- Heat oil and add finely chopped onion, 1 tbl spn ginger garlic paste.
- Fry till the onions are translucent.
- Add turmeric, coriander powder, red chilli powder, fry for a minute.
- Add the chicken, salt and cook till chicken is halfway cooked.
- In a separate pan, heat oil and add whole spices.
- Add remaining ginger-garlic paste, ground coconut, poppy seeds, sesame seed powders, onion paste, cardamom powder, garam masala.
- Fry for few minutes and then add the half cooked chicken.
- Add water to bring it to required consistancy. Adjust salt.
- Serve hot.
Nagli or Kane or Lady fish is abundantly available in the river near our home. So we get very fresh ones in the market. It is considered as one of the “clean fishes” as it does not have too many bones. It is easy for digestion, so when we introduce fish to babys, we start with nagli. We make few different dishes with this fish. This Nagli Ambat is one of them.
Pictorial: Clean fish. Make coconut paste. Fry onion. When they turn brownish, add coconut paste and then fish.
Lady Fish Gravy (Nagli Ambat)
Ingredients
- 7-8 pieces of lady fish/nagli
- 1/2 cup onion
- 1 cup fresh/frozen coconut
- 4-5 red chillies
- A piece of tamarind
- 1/4 tea spn turmeric
- 1 tea spn coriander seeds
- 2 green chillies
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Remove scales of lady fish and clean the fish.
- Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds, turmeric.
- Grind them with coconut, tamarind and red chillies to a smooth paste.
- Heat oil and fry onion till they are brownish.
- Add the coconut paste, green chillies slit into two pieces and salt.
- Add little water to make it a thick gravy.
- Slowly slide in the fish and cook till they are done.
- Serve hot with rice.
