Bengali Chicken Curry With Fall Vegetables
This Post was first published on September 23, 2016
One of my favorite fall to winter creations is this Bengali Chicken Curry with Fall vegetables. It is an adaptation of a childhood recipe. A flavorful chicken stew of sorts. My mother and grandmother made similar dishes using young goat meat. I have successfully reworked this for the instant pot.
Kitchen Nostalgia and Memories
Childhood kitchen nostalgia and thinking of my grandmother are synonymous. This month’s Recipe Redux theme, encouraging us to share early culinary memories. My childhood memories take me back to her kitchen to my grandmother’s kitchen. A place that is still my happy place. Just not one that I can readily visit.
I would sit and watch and learn, by listening to her stories, her food memories and her childhood. These stories all a part of great fabric that still wraps me up with the warmth of nostalgia.
It is an invisible warm clock that covers me when I enter the kitchen. It kept me plodding along, those early days of graduate school when my cravings were rich and my pantry was sparse.
As I find my way around the kitchen, in a different land, familiar childhood dishes began to slowly weave their way onto my table. So many of them work their way into our dinners. I find them in flavors and avatars of their own as we move through this journey that we call life. In learning to find the old in new ways is sometimes the evolution of cooking.
My Bengali Chicken Curry with Fall Vegetables Story
Today, the was the first day of fall, I slept in just a little bit, woke up to a gorgeous day and a fall garden filled with potatoes, carrots, peppers, beans and tomatoes. My brother was on his way to visit and life for the moment felt perfect, well almost. Things are getting better, I think I just need to hang in and give myself and life a little time.
I gave myself the indulgence, to cook this delicate almost stew like curry, something my brother likes very much and is a childhood staples in many Bengali homes, albeit made more often with goat meat but sometimes also done with fresh chicken on the bone. I have done a compromise and used chicken thighs, as that is what I had handy. The whole chicken maybe once the job front sorts itself out.
Another chicken curry with Bengali flavors is this Wednesday Chicken Curry.
If you like this recipe and want more ideas, do join my Indian Instant Pot Facebook group and Legume Love Group. Of course Instant Indian is ready for pre-order, joining its siblings The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles and Spices and Seasons.
Do not forget to get social with me, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Youtube.
A hearty Bengali style chicken curry with lots of fall vegetables.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 medium sized, green bell pepper, diced
- 11/2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 2 to 3 pods garlic, minced
- 1.5 teaspoons cumin powder
- 1.5 teaspoons coriander powder
- 1 piece of cinnamon broken
- 2 to 3 cardamom, bruised
- 2 to 3 cloves
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned and on the bone
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon red cayenne powder
- 1.2 teaspoons salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
- 2 small beets, peeled and quartered
- 2 to 3 red skinned potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
- 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and halved (optional)
- Lots of chopped cilantro to finish and garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil and add in the onion and pepper and saute well for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened and wilted.
- Add in the ginger and the garlic and mix well.
- Add in the cumin and coriander powder, and the cinnamon, cardamom and the cloves and mix well.
- Add in the chicken and mix well and cook the chicken with the spices and stir in the turmeric, cayenne, salt and black peppercorns and cook the chicken for about 10 minutes, allowing it to turn golden. This process is important for the deep flavor.
- Add in the carrots, potatoes, green beans and about 2 cups of water and simmer the chicken for about 20 minutes, until the meat is very tender.
- Check for seasonings, garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
- Instant Pot Instructions
- 1. Turn the instant pot to saute mode. Heat the oil and add in the onion and pepper and saute well for about 2 minutes, until the onions have softened and wilted. Add in the ginger and the garlic and mix well. Add in the cumin and coriander powder, and the cinnamon, cardamom and the cloves and mix well.
- 2. Add in the chicken and mix well and cook the chicken with the spices and stir in the turmeric, cayenne, salt and black peppercorns and cook the chicken for about 2 minutes.
- 3. Add in the carrots, potatoes, green beans (if using) and about 3/4 cup of water.
- 4. Turn off the saute mode and set on 4 minutes of pressure. Allow for a natural release if possible.
- 5. Check for seasonings, garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
Kolkata Travel Diary 2015- A travelogue by Aadi - Spice Chronicles
[…] food was outstanding! Period. We had vegetables and chicken with lentils, rice, and yogurt. I asked my mother to make these lentils again for me, they are one […]