Bengali Chicken Curry and Pulau

Pulau and chicken curry - a hot favorite combination of most bengalies especially on a lazy Saturday. I took an attempt and the result was pretty satisfactory. I followed my maa's traditional recipe for both.

As a kid my grand maa's pulao was one of my favorite foods. She used to cook it in a large brass pan (handi). According to me my maa's pulao was good too but it was different than my grand maa's. My idea was that the secret was hidden in that brass pan. My mom is now an expert Pulau
maker without that pan. I am trying to get there too. I know that sounds too ambitious but I am not going to give up soon especially when recipe is there and you just have to be skilled enough to get the magic.

PULAO

Basmati rice - 3 cup
Water - 5.5 cup
Milk - 1.5 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Yogurt - 2 tbsp
Oil - 3tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Salt - 2 spoon (to taste)
Turmeric - 2tbsp
Red chillie - 1 tbsp
Cashew - handful
Raisins - handful
For tempering
Whole cardamom - 5
Broken cinnamon - 2-3 sticks
Whole cloves - 4/5
Whole black pepper (optional) - 4-5

Put oil in the rice cooker
Add all ingredients for tempering in oil once it's hot
Add cashew and raisins
Wash rice
Put rice in the rice cooker
Add rest of the items
Mix everything
Close the cooker and let it cook

BENGALI CHICKEN CURRY

To Marinate
Chicken
Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Vinegar - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - 2 tbsp
Red Chillie Powder - 2 tbsp

To Temper Oil
Whole cardamom - 4-5
Whole cloves - 4-5
Bay leaves - 2-3 small sized
Broken cinnamon - 3-4 (depending on the size)

Ginger-Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Chopped Onion - 1 cup
Tomato Sauce - 3 tbsp / Chopped tomato 1cup
Turmeric powder - 2 tbsp
Red Chillie - 2 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp

Cut chicken breasts in small pieces
Marinate it for 1-2 hours with all the above ingredients mentioned in the section (To Marinate)
Heat oil in a large pan/pressure cooker
Temper oil with whole masalas
Add ginger-garlic paste
Add onion and fry it till it becomes brown
Add tomato sauce - if adding chopped tomato then fry it till it becomes paste
Add all the remainder masalas
Add chicken pieces
Fry everything for 2 minutes
Add water and close the cooker (if you do not have a pressure cooker then after adding water reduce the flame, close it with a lid and occasionally stir the mixture. Once chicken is ready remove lid and cook it for 3-4 minutes in high flame)
Wait for 1 city in the pressure cooker and then reduce flame and wait for 10-15 minutes
It's ready to serve....

Friday movie evening with Strawberry Blend

It was one of the boring Fridays. My roomie asked me to join her for a Cinderella movie. The movie was not that good so she bribed me with this drink. It looked beautiful and tasted great. I could not resist myself to capture it in my camera and publish the photo along with a rough recipe.

Strawberry Blend

Fresh strawberries
Milk
Orange Juice
Sugar
Tang Orange
Food Color - Red

Make a paste of fresh strawberries and 1-2 drops of food color
Keep 1/2 of the paste separately or you can fill half of your serving glass with it as shown below

Mix Milk, juice and Tang with the rest of the paste

Mix sugar according to personal choice

Now pour this milk shake on top of the paste

For garnishing you can put a piece of strawberry at the edge

It's ready to serve