A delicious chicken dish made by cooking chicken in a spicy and tangy pickling spices sauce, 'achari murgh' comes from the hotter regions of Northern India. Try this recipe when you are in the mood for a unique, lesser-known but authentic Indian curry.
You will need:
For the Marinade:
Chicken - 1 lb (drumsticks or other cuts)
Yogurt - ½ cup
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Salt - ½ tsp
Pickling Spice Mix:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Kalonji (black onion seeds) - ½ tsp
For the Achari Murgh:
Oil - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1 large, finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
Tomato paste - 2 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 heaped tbsp (or less, for a less spicy version)
Pickling spice mix - 1 tbsp
Chicken - 1 lb (marinated)
Water - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp, crushed
Cilantro leaves - to garnish
How to:
Wash chicken nd pat dry. Marinate chicken in the marinade ingredients at least for an hour, or even overnight.
Heat a skillet and dry roast the pickling spice mix ingredients over a low heat. Do not burn them. Cool and grind to a powder. It does not need to be very fine, a little bit coarse is okay. Set this aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and saute till they are lightly browned. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw smell is gone.
Then add the tomatoes paste and red chili powder and cook for a couple of minutes. At this point, you can blend this mixture to make a smooth paste or proceed with the next step.
Add the pickling spice mix and chicken, reserving the marinade juices.
Cook the chicken in this thick masala on all sides to seal in the juices, 8-10 minutes. Now add water and the reserved marinade and give it a good stir. Season with salt, cover the lid and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes or till chicken is done.
Open the lid, check seasoning and spice levels. Add crushed kauri methi and cook further if the gravy needs to be reduced.
Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves. Serve hot with steamed rice, rotis, naan and such.
Notes:
1. Instead of using red chili powder, roast and grind some whole dried red chilies along with the other pickling spices. Around 10 chilies would be enough in this recipe. 2. If you are bothered about the spice, feel free to reduce the amount or use Kashmiri chili powder which has a bright crimson color but not much heat. 3. Though you could use lime juice instead of yogurt as a marinade, the yogurt helps to thicken the sauce as well. So try to use yogurt in this recipe. 4. This recipe works with vegetables or fish as well. I will try to give you proper recipes for the same in the future.
Recipe by At The Corner of Happy And Harried at https://www.happyandharried.com/2016/11/02/achari-murgh-chicken-in-pickling-spices/