Narkel Chicken / Chicken in coconut sauce

( Vegetarians can replace the Chicken with Paneer ... it tastes even better. )

I learnt this from Jaya's blog.

Though using coconut paste or coconut milk is not a novelty to many, I had never used it in any chicken dish.
So I was a little curious when I saw Jaya's "Hassle free chicken curry" post. But on her assurance that chicken tastes good with coconut too .... I decided to try it.

I have made a few changes ... more out of necessity than my usual tendency to experiment. So am giving my recipe here. The original recipe is with Jaya here.

I have used coconut milk and not the paste. I have also skipped out on the haldi powder just to retain the creamy colour that the curd and coconut milk would give.

Also I have not used any garam masala powder .... as it would tend to darken the colour ..... so just whole green cardamoms ...... they give a wonderful flavour in hot oil. And instead of red chilli powder I used chopped green chillies.

Needless to say .... this is one dish that I am going to make again and again. It turned out so good ... am going to make it the next time I have guests for dinner. :-)

And it indeed is hassle free.
Thanks a lot Jaya for sharing such a wonderful recipe. :-)



Need :

Chicken pieces,
Sliced onions,
Chopped or sliced green chillies,
Whole dry red chillies,
Green cardamoms / choti elaichi,
Curd,
Crushed garlic,
Coconut milk,
Salt to taste,
A little sugar,
Cooking oil.

How to :

Marinate the chicken with curd, garlic, salt and a little oil. Since I was using coconut milk I did not use it in the marination as per Jaya's instructions.

Heat oil in a heavy kadhai. Add the green cardamoms and whole red chillies.

Now add the sliced onions and fry till they turn translucent.

Then add the chicken and cover. Cook till chicken is half done.

Then add the coconut milk and and the chopped green chillies.
Stir a little. Cover and cook till chicken is done.




Great with hot rotis or rice.

Chutney from leftover chashni

Am in the midst of cleaning the house .... a ritual I follow every year inspite of my house being extremely clean. My helping hand rolls her eyes every time I mention the word cleaning ... saying " Tai la sagala swaccha pahije !" ..... "Sister wants everything to be always clean". :-)

Bengalis clean their houses before Durga Puja ... and hubby's side do their cleaning before Diwali.
I do the job before Durga Puja .... serves both ways for me ..... and am more relaxed and get more time for making Diwali delicacies. :-)

But I have been dying to share this recipe with my blogging friends.
It makes good use of left over sugar syrup that we are often left with after all the gulab jamuns / rasgullas have been devoured.

I came across the word 'chashni' when I had spoken to my then would be sis-in-law on the phone for the first time . She described my voice to her brother (hubby) as 'chashni jaisi '. :-)

Learnt this from Sanjeev Kapoor's show on the tv. And it is just soooooooo good. Easy to make, tastes heavenly and lasts for as long as you want it to .... that is if you don't polish it off in a couple of days. ;-)

I guess this is called Saunth or Sonth that is usually served with chaats in Northe India.

I made rasgullas sometime ago ... so naturally made this after a while.

Need :

Left over sugar syrup / chashni
Equal amounts of jeera / cumin seeds and whole Black Pepper
A few whole dry red chillies
A little Hing / Asafoetida
Tamarind pulp ... soak tamarind in water for half an hour and strain out the pulp
A little salt.

How to :

Dry roast the jeera, pepper, chillies and hing in a heavy bottomed pan.

Grind them coarsely in a mortar and pestle.

Bring the chashni / sugar syrup to a boil ( if it is rasgulla chashni you will need to boil it for a while to thicken it slightly as syrup for rasgullas is thinner in consistency).

Add the tamarind pulp ,the ground masala and a little salt and boil for some more time.

Cool.
If you want to you can strain it. Otherwise it is good as is.

Goes great with kachoris, samosas, parathas ...... whatever.