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Murgir Jhol

Every Bengali family has their own style of making this chicken curry and at my home it used to be cooked most of the Sundays by my dad. He claimed that it is his best produced dish till date. As children we definitely looked forward to Sunday for the special Sunday Chicken Curry by my father (Baba as I call him in Bengali).

Over years things changed, I moved out of my home but the habit of having this Sunday Chicken curry kind of stayed. I try and cook this curry atleast 1 Sunday of the month and is kind of now a new tradition at my home and I am glad my husband loves it too. So yaay Baba, your recipe is loved by your son-in-law too!

The stark difference in cooking this Sunday Chicken Curry – bengali style vs the rest of the country is the use of mustard oil and potatoes. It is a rare oil not used commonly in most cuisines of the world but finds its place in Bengali cooking.

Murgir Jhol

A must have sunday chicken curry at every Bengali home.

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Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 red onion roughly chopped
• 2 to mato roughly diced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 cm ginger root
• 2 dried red chilli
• 2 green chilli slit lengthwise
• 4 tbsp mustard oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1.5 tsp red chilli powder
• 1.5 tsp coriander powder
• 1 kg chicken boneless or with bone
• 120 ml water
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 20 g coriander finely chopped

Instructions

 

• Blend the onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, dried red chilli into a smooth paste. Add 1-2 tbsp of water if too dry to make a paste.
• In a pan add mustard oil followed by cumin seeds. Let them splutter for 2 minutes and add the paste made earlier. Cook it on a medium to high flame for 10 mins.
• Add the spices - turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and mix well. Add the chicken and coat it well with the sauce in the pan. Cook it for 10 mins.
• At this stage add water and let them simmer under a lid for 15-20 mins. Stir occasionally. After 20 mins, you will see oil separated at the edges of the pan.
• Add garam masala, green chilli and coriander and mix well. Serve this warm with steamed basmati rice. It tastes pure heaven.

Video

Notes

Most Bengali recipes use potatoes, so does this one. I haven't added it this one. But if you fancy, add 2 medium sized potatoes cut into half or quarters along with the chicken cubes.

Tip: To add more flavors top this with a tbsp or two of ghee just before serving and it tastes even better.