Chicken Chaap- Kolkata style
Kolkata-style Chicken Chaap is a Mughlai classic. In this dish, chicken leg pieces are marinated with aromatic spices and a spice paste and then cooked to perfection. The end result is a rich, flavorful, and complex curry with tender chicken, which pairs wonderfully with parota, roti, biryani, or pulao.
Ingredients
- 1 kg- 6 Chicken full leg pieces
- 1 tsp- Kashmiri mirch powder
- Salt to taste
- 150 g- Yogurt (whisked)
- ½ cup- Ghee/Clarified butter
For the Spice Powder
- 20 g- Cashew nuts
- 2 tbsp- Dried edible rose petals
- 3 tbsp- Char magaz
- 5- Green cardamom (use the seeds only, discard the pods)
- ½ of 1 flower- Mace/Javitri
- Nutmeg/Jaiphal Break the whole nutmeg and use a small part of it for the spice powder
- 10- Whole black peppercorn
- One 2” stick- Cinnamon
- 5- Cloves
- 1 tsp- Cumin seeds
For the Spice Paste
- 4 large sized- Onion
- 10-12- Garlic cloves
- 4-5 Green chillies
- One 1½” piece- Ginger
- ¼ cup- Fresh grated coconut
Instructions
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Add everything mentioned For the Spice Powder in a food processor and make a coarse powder, keep aside.
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Add everything mentioned For the Spice Paste in a food processor and blitz until smooth paste forms, keep aside.
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Now in a large bowl add the chicken pieces, kashmiri mirch powder, yogurt, ½ tsp salt, spice powder, and spice paste. Mix well & marinate for 3-4 hours or you can marinate the chicken overnight and cook the next day.
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Heat ghee in a kadai/deep frying pan (nonstick preferably), add the marinated chicken along with the marination, mix well, cover and cook over low heat until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Adjust salt, keep stirring in between. I cooked the Chaap without water but if you feel that the gravy is drying up too much you can add some hot water in between the cooking.
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Serve hot with Parota, Rumali Roti, Biryani or Pulao.