Doi Chicken (Chicken curry with yogurt)

When my children were leaving home for the University, I wrote down a few recipes which they could make with the ingredients that were easily available in the supermarkets. I thought that if they ever craved for home cooked food then a chicken curry , a dal and a vegetable like spinach or bhendi (okra) with some rice would make a good balanced meal. This chicken curry is my son’s favorite, he makes it better than I do now. Best thing in this recipe is that there are no onions to grate and shed tears. This is a very easy recipe and does not require too many ingredients. Sometimes to enhance the flavor I had a Kafir lime leaf from my garden. The lovely aroma of the lime leaf really goes well with Doi chicken.

I usually prefer to use chicken with the bone,the boneless chicken tend to become a little dry. The spiciness in this dish comes from the green chilies, I do not use any dry red chilies, or chili powder so the green chilies have to be hot. Also this is cooked in ghee or butter not oil. The aroma of chicken and garlic and ginger frying in butter or ghee is amazing.

First you have to season the ghee with the whole graram masalas, ( cinnamon, cardamom and cloves), then add a green chili and the ginger and garlic paste. After sauteing for a minute or so add the chicken and fry till the chicken is opaque and the chicken pieces turns a little brownish. Then add the beaten yogurt to the chicken, cover and let it cook till the chicken is soft and cooked. The gravy should be creamy, not watery. This curry tastes great with Rice or Roti.

Ingredients

• Chicken 500g
• Yogurt (Doi) 1/2 cup
• Cardamom ( elaichi ) 8
• Cloves ( laung/lobongo) 8
• Cinnamon ( dalchini) 1 inch piece broken into smaller pieces
• Black cardamom ( badi elaichi ) 1
• Garlic paste 1teaspoon
• Ginger paste 1 teaspoon
• Ghee or Butter 3 Tablespoons
• Salt 1/2 teaspoon
• Green chilies 3 or 4
• Flour ( Maida) 1/4 teaspoon. Or 1/2 teaspoon of cashew paste.
• Coriander leaves chopped ( Dhania patta) 1 Tablespoon

Prepping

Wash the chicken and drain out all the water

Beat the Doi/ yogurt with the flour and keep aside. ( To make the cashew paste, just boil about 4 cashews for a few minutes then grind it to a paste), if you are using cashew paste mix it with the yogurt instead of flour.

Grate or grind the Ginger

Grate or Grind the Garlic

Take out the seeds from the black cardamom, and use the seeds only, discard the skin.

Slit the green chilies. (I had to use as little bit of ground green chilies in the recipe as I am fond of really hot food.)

How to make the curry

• Heat a pan or Kadai and add the Ghee or Butter. Keep the heat medium or the butter will burn
• Add the Cinnamon pieces, cardamom cloves and the black cardamom seeds
• Next add 1 of the slit green chilies, and fry a bit.
• Add the ginger garlic paste and stir fry till the raw smell goes.\
• Now add the chicken pieces and keep stirring and frying till the chicken becomes opaque and slightly brown.
• To the fried chicken add the beaten yogurt, and the salt stir well, add the slit green chilies, cover and let this simmer on low heat.
• Keep checking after about 7 minutes to see if the chicken is done and that the gravy hasn’t dried out completely.
• With you spatula try poke the chicken slightly to see if it is coming off the bone. If it does and the gravy has turned nice and creamy it is time to transfer the curry to a serving dish. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with steamed Rice or with Rotis.