Doi Murgi/Chicken in Yogurt Sauce

A traditional Bengali chicken curry with full of finesse simmered in a flavorful yogurt based gravy. It's a wonderful amalgamation of tangy yogurt, aromatic spices, ginger-garlic, caramelized onion and the pungent mustard oil. The nice color of the curry from sweet paprika, fresh red chili and turmeric is a perfect feast for the eyes and the flavorful curry will surely satisfy the taste buds. 

I make lots of non veg curries with yogurt and they always turn out delicious. It's very simple to put together with easy to find pantry ingredients. Marinating in yogurt and some spices keeps the chicken juicy and helps the flavors come through. Sometimes yogurt curdles at high temperature, so I recommend to mix the yogurt with little bit of sugar and tapioca starch or corn starch while incorporating in the hot curry to avoid curdling. Also, reduce the heat and gently fold yogurt to keep it creamy. 

Ingredients~
1 whole chicken, excess fat removed, cut in small pieces(3 lb. bone-in and skinless) or leg and thigh pieces

3/4 cup full fat strained yogurt

1/8 tsp tapioca starch

1 cup onion, thinly chopped

1 red fresh chili, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. minced garlic 
1 tbsp. minced ginger
4-6 hot fresh chili or as per heat tolerance, slightly slit

1/2 tsp. turmeric  powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp.ground cumin

1 tsp. salt or to taste

1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1  2"flat cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. whole black pepper(optional)
4 cloves
1/4-1/3 cup oil(preferably mustard oil)

1 tsp ghee(optional)
3 1/2 cups warm water

Grind together gorom moshla

3 whole green cardamom
4 cloves
1 tiny piece of cinnamon stick

Method~

Marinate the chicken with 1/4 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric and little gorom moshla at least for 2 hours or over night in the refrigerator. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Saute onion with whole black pepper, bay leaf and 1 flat cinnamon stick and cloves until soft. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp sugar and stir until sugar dissolved and caramelized. Add in ginger-garlic paste, sliced chili, cumin, coriander, paprika and saute for 3-4 minutes until the raw smell disappears over low heat. Add the marinated chicken pieces in to the mixture. Keep stirring until the spices coat the chicken nicely for 8-10 minutes and raw smell goes off. Pour in 2 1/2 cup warm water. Bring to a boil on high heat then let it simmer for about 10 minutes with the lid on over low-medium heat. Stir in between so it doesn't stick to the bottom. 

Whisk together yogurt, tapioca starch and remaining sugar. Once the chicken pieces are almost cooked through, reduce heat to low and add yogurt mixture to the gravy. Gently fold until well incorporated. Add reaming chilies. Cook for 3-4 minutes over low heat or until desired gravy consistency is reached. Sprinkle remaining gorom moshla powder and ghee.  Give it a good stir. Taste and adjust seasonings. Drizzle whipped yogurt on top (optional). Serve with plain rice or polao and salad on the side.

 

 

Happy Cooking!