"Chicken Country Captain" was a very popular dish during the colonial time in India. In that time home grown county chicken was used in this recipe. There were lots of version of this recipe. In its basic form, "Chicken Country Captain" is a mild stew made with browned chicken pieces, onion, curry powder, almonds, pork fat and bacon. Over the time it had metamorphosed and changed accordingly. According to wiki, Country captain was originated in India as a simple poultry recipe which was enjoyed by the British army officers. One theory is that an early 19th-century British sea captain from East India Company, working in the spice trade introduced it to the American South via the port of Savannah. This dish remains popular amongst the Anglo Indian, lives in Kolkata as well as the Bengalis.
My version of "Chicken Country Captain" is actually my Maa’s version. She got the recipe long back from a Bengali magazine issue featuring the popular Anglo Indian foods. This was a very common dish in our household since my childhood and when Baba would buy fresh chicken from the market in the weekend, Maa normally would make “Murgir Jhol (Bengali Homestyle Chicken Curry)” in the Sunday lunch and keep some of the fresh chicken pieces in the refrigerator for preparing in the mid week. So today I am presenting you a very easy quick go recipe from my kitchen "Chicken Country Captain"
Tips: I always prefer to fry the garlic in direct oil for enhancing the aroma of garlic. If you want to mellow down the aroma, add it after frying the onion paste and fry it in medium high heat until the raw smells are gone.
Chicken Country Captain
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Servings: 3
Ingredients:
500g chicken, curry cut
1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
1/4th cup onion paste
1/4th cup tomato paste, freshly pureed
1/4th cup sliced bell pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tbsp garlic paste
1-2 cinnamon sticks
2-3 cloves
3-4 dry red chillies, cut into long pieces
1/4th tsp whole black peppercorn
Salt to taste
4 tbsp (40g) mustard oil
Recipe:
Heat 1 tbsp of mustard oil in a pan over medium high heat. When the oil starts to smoke lightly, add the sliced onion and fry them till golden brown. Set them aside.
Next in the same pan, add the remaining oil. Heat the oil over medium high heat until smoke lightly, then add the dry red chilli pieces, whole black peppercorn, cinnamon, cloves. Let them splutter for few seconds.
Add the garlic paste to the pan and quickly fry them for couple of seconds till the aroma comes out (Don’t burn the garlic, otherwise it will taste bitter).
Now add the onion paste and a little bit of salt to the pan and fry them for 3-4 minutes until they are pale brown.
Next add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and pepper powder and fry the in moderate low heat for 3-4 minutes till oil start to seep out. If the spices start to stick in the bottom of the pan, sprinkle some water and stir well.
Now add the tomato puree to the pan. Stir well and braise the spices in medium low heat till all the raw smells of spices are gone and tomatoes are fully cooked.
Next add the chicken pieces and fry them in high heat for 5-6 minutes. Cover the pan and cook the chicken in medium low heat over 10-15 minutes till the chicken release their juices and cook half way.
When all the juices from the chicken will dry out and oil seeps out from the sides, add sliced bell peppers and fried onion and give it a good stir. Cook them for couple of minutes over medium high heat.
Next add half a cup water to the pan. Cover the pan and let the gravy comes to its boiling point over high heat. After then change the temperature to medium.
Check for seasoning and cook covered until the chicken are fully cooked and the gravy is thickened.
Serve with hot steamed rice.
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