We ate this for dinner last night, and I had a completely different idea of how I wanted this dish to turn out. As it so happened, Indu wanted rotis with dinner and that didn’t really work for what I had in mind.
This dish has a thick, very delicious gravy, and the veggies within become quite soft and juicy. I love whole garlic, even though they don’t add a great deal of their flavour to the gravy or the dish as a whole.
Ingredients
- Chicken, curry cut, 500gm
- Brinjal, long, 1 medium-large, washed and cut
- French beans, handful, washed and cut
- Carrots, 1 large, washed and cut
- Onions, 2 medium, peeled and sliced fine
- Garlic, 40 cloves, whole
- Garlic powder, 2 tsp
- Chili powder, 2 tsp
- Coriander powder, 1.5 tsp
- Kalonji, 1/2 tsp
- Star anise, 1 piece
- Cinnamon, 1/2 inch piece
- Black peppercorns, 1 tsp, ground from whole
- Laung, 4 – 5 pieces
- Salt to taste
- Oil to cook
Method
- Marinate chicken with salt, chilli powder and garlic powder for 30 minutes. Drain.
- Heat oil in a pan and on high heat, fry the chicken pieces until cooked on the outside. Remove and drain.
- In the same pan, on low-medium heat, add all the remaining spices.
- Add the onions and garlic; fry till the onions just begin to brown.
- Add the chicken, stir well, add the brinjal and carrots; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the beans, and continue to simmer, covered for another 10 minutes, stirring once.
- Mix well, so the little gravy there is, covers the chicken and everything else.
- Serve hot with rotis.
Notes
- Increase the spices proportionately if you want more gravy.
- I used mustard oil to cook
- You can reduce the amount of garlic cloves if you wish by up to half. If you do, smash the garlic before adding.
- This recipe results in very soft veggies. If you like them firmer/crisp, reduce cooking time, but remember to put the brinjal in first nonetheless.