Kosha Murgi or Chicken Kosha is a classic Bengali delicacy. Since childhood every Sunday, Maa used to cook either "Chicken Kosha" or Chicken Curry and sometimes Mutton. The Sunday used to be incomplete without it. If there is no meat in Sundays menu for any reason, Bon (my younger sister) and I used to sit with gloomy face.
In Himel's home also, every Sunday, they prepare meat without fail. Now when I came to Melbourne, first few months, I didn't prepare chicken on Sundays. It was not intentional. As we used to go to market in the middle of the week and I used to prepare chicken dishes through out the week most of the time, when Sunday came, there was no Chicken left in my pantry. So I used to cook dal, egg or vegetables on Sundays. After some day, Himel called for a strike :P and told me Sunday should be a "Chicken day". So after "an hour of meeting, discussion, proposal and plan", we made it as a tradition at our home. "Sunday is a Chicken day"
Today I am sharing you my version of "Chicken Kosha". Kosha is similar meaning to bhuna, which involves slowly cooking a gravy over low flame for a very long time to get a rich, dark-brown color. Though this recipe takes almost one and half hour to make but surely worth to try. You can serve it with Bengali Misti Pulao , Paratha, Roti or even hot steamed rice.
Tips:
The key ingredient to achieve a rich color to "Chicken Kosha" is patience. To achieve a rich brownish color to gravy, fry the onion till rich golden brown and braise the gravy for long time in low heat. Basically we are doing slow cooking here.
Be alert. Don't burn the spices otherwise the gravy will taste bitter. Keep an eye on the spices, whenever the pan dries out, add a little bit of water at a time, stir, scrape, and incorporate all the things together.
Kosha Murgi (Chicken Kosha):
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients for chicken marination:
4 piece Chicken Drumsticks without skin (600 gm), washed and pat dry
1/2 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp Ginger paste
1/2 tbsp Garlic paste
1/2 tbsp Green Chilli paste
1 tbsp hung Curd
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Mustard oil
Ingredients for gravy:
3 medium sized Onion, sliced (200 gm)
1 tbsp Ginger paste
1 tbsp Garlic paste
1 tbsp Green Chilli paste
2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder
2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup/ Tomato Sauce
3 tbsp Curd
1 tbsp Ghee
1/4th cup Mustard oil
For tempering: 2 Bay leaves, 2 Cloves, 2 dry Red Chillies, 1 Cinnamon stick, 3 Green Cardamom pods
Salt per taste
Recipe:
In a large bowl take the chicken. Add all the ingredients for marination and mix it well.
Then add the chicken to the bowl. Coat the chicken pieces in the marinade. Mix everything well and keep it aside for an hour.
In a bowl take kashmiri red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder and 2 tbsp of water. Make a smooth paste and keep it aside.
Heat a large pan and add mustard oil to it. Once the oil has started to smoke lightly and changed colour to pale yellow, add bay leaves, cloves, dry red chillies, cinnamon and cardamoms for tempering.
When the spices begin to splatter add the onions and fry them on medium flame for about 10-12 minutes until they are golden brown in color.
Add the ginger garlic and green chilli paste and fry for another 5 minutes. Keep the flame medium to low. Stir often otherwise it will stick to the pan.
Now shake all the excess marinade from chicken pieces and add the chicken to the pan. Add salt as per your taste. Change the heat to high.
Stir the chicken for about 10 minutes in high flame until they are lightly browned
Now add the leftover marinade and the spice paste to the pan and fry it for 3-4 minutes more.
Cover the lid of the pan and change the temperature to medium low. Cook the chicken on medium heat for about 15 minutes until spices started releasing their oil. Stir occasionally. This will ensure that the smell of raw spices from the marinade is gone and chicken will release water and cook in their own juices .
After 15 minutes, when all the water from chicken dries out, add the tomato ketchup/ sauce and stir well. Change the heat to low.
Now add 1 tbsp of the beaten yoghurt and cook it off completely before adding two more tablespoons. Continue cooking the spices in this manner until oil separates.
Stir, cover and braise the chicken in the spices for 40-45 minutes on low heat. At regular intervals, give it a stir. Add a tablespoon of yoghurt each time and continue braising until all the yoghurt is used up. However, be alert so that the gravy doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan.
If the pan dries out, splash some water, stir well, again cover the pan. All you need is patience to achieve a rich color to gravy.
Once you are happy with the colour, add small amount of water for gravy. Cover and cook until the oil separates and gravy is thicken as per your liking . Check the seasoning.
Add garam masala powder and ghee. Turn off the heat. Cover and let it rest for about 2 minutes before serving.
Serve with Pulao, Paratha, Roti even hot steamed Rice is also a good option.
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