Narkel Doi Chicken or Chicken in a coconut milk and curd gravy

( Vegetarians can make this with paneer or the cauliflower. )

Like Tuesdays are my vegetable shopping days, Wednesdays are allocated to masala making.
Mondays are usually very hectic, as after the weekend, which I take totally off, fresh batch of cooking and laundry take up almost half the day.
So I make all the  masala pastes on Wednesday.
Most times, it is onions, ginger + garlic, and tomato pastes that I make and freeze in ice trays.
Lasts almost a week or more.
On other times, I make the mustard paste ... that one thing that makes Bengali dishes, especially fish dishes, a class apart, from the usual ones.
I also make the Posto or poppy seed paste for all those Bengali vegetarian meals, especially lunches.

Once a month, I make all the dry, powder masalas too ... like the dhaniya or coriander, jeera or cumin and the garam masala too. And the Bengali bhaja masala.
The dry masalas usually last me a month.
There are some other masalas I make that I would love to share here someday.

Last week I had clicked this photo and so thought of including it to give you an idea.
These pop up ice trays are a big help. Not only they have small sized slots but also getting a cube out is much easier than conventional ice trays.

I had also made this chicken cooked in coconut milk and curd. I could have called this a  Doi chicken too. Only, the quantity of coconut milk is more here ... and hence is more dominant in flavour.
Another very easy and very quick recipe, I rely heavily on it when I have sudden guests. Or for a quick meal.
This curry is very light and has almost no heavy spices. Fragrant with the combination of the cardamom and the coconut milk, its light, soupy gravy is the perfect side dish to any spicy biryani.
You can also enjoy it with naan, parathas or even the Bengali Mishti Polau ... that I had made to go along with it.

There isn't much to write today.
So let's get on to the recipe for this beautiful chicken curry.

Ingredients needed for Narkel Doi Chicken :

Chicken - ½ kg, medium sized pieces , washed
Coconut milk - I used around 300 ml of thick coconut milk
Curd - around 1 cup, well beaten till smooth
Grated ginger - 1 tsp
Grated garlic - ½ tsp
Choto Elaach or Green cardamom - 3 pieces
Whole dry red chillies - 2, broken
Dalchini or Cinnamon - 2 small pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized, thinly sliced
Fresh green chillies - 2, chopped
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste
Water - 1 cup

How to :

Heat oil + ghee in a heavy kadahi.
( You can cook this in a pressure cooker too. )
Add the green cardamom + red chillies + cinnamom or dalchini.

Add the sliced onions and lightly fry them. Do not brown.
Add the ginger + garlic and stir a little and immediately add the chicken.

Stir well and turn the chicken pieces over once.
Add salt and  water.
Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove cover and add the coconut milk.
Add sugar.
Cover and cook till done.

Remove cover and add the curd.
Mix well and add water if necessary.
Check for seasoning.

Cover and simmer till chicken is done.
Remove from heat and sprinkle chopped green chillies on it.
Cover and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

I had made some mishti polau as I had guests.
Will post the recipe next time.

Till then, enjoy!!

PS: Hope you are following my posts on our recent trip to Kolkata, my travel blog.

Kolkata - Day 1

Kolkata - Day 2

Kolkata - Day 3