Murgh Kaaju Ghee Roast

( Tender chicken cooked in Cashew paste & clarified butter)

My Mom & I mostly have our conversations around food. My mom is a great cook & the only difference between our style of cooking is, she loves to make rich & elaborate dishes. whereas I try to cut down on richness & make quick fix meals. Nevertheless my moms food is amazing, I am not saying because she is my Mom, but she definitely is a talented chef. She can cook in large scale & still make perfect dishes. Well I don't have so much courage to cook for more than 10 people. 

Earlier I have shared Chicken Ghee roast recipe, which is a true Mangalorean dish. While talking to Mummy, she told me that she experimented something & it was more delicious than the regular Ghee roast. Now that I have tried this recipe, I must admit that this is more tastier than the regular ghee roast. A big Thank you to Mummy for coming up with such a tasty recipe. The best part of the recipe is its simplicity. This recipe has very few ingredients & gets done under 20 mins. Here is the recipe & enjoy it! This is how I made it 

Making time: 20 - 30 mins

Serves: 5 people

Ingredients:

• 1 kg whole chicken cleaned & cut into medium size pieces
• 1 Tbsp Kashmiri Chili Powder
• 1/4 tspn Cumin Powder
• 1/4 tspn Turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper powder
• 15 whole cashew nuts
• 1 Tbspn lemon juice
• 1 Tbspn minced ginger & garlic
• 1 Tbspn cooking oil
• 2 Tbspn Ghee (Clarified Butter)
• Salt as per taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Directions:

1. In a heavy bottom Kadai/ Pan add 1 tbspn of cooking oil, fry the ginger garlic for a minute.
2. Add the chicken pieces, salt, turmeric powder & saute well until well combined.
3. Now covered the lid & cook the chicken on low flame for about 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Saute in between to avoid chicken from sticking to the bottom. (Add 1/4 cup of water only if required)
4. Once the chicken is cooked the water in the chicken needs to drain off. Turn off the flame & set the chicken aside.
5. In a mixer/ blender, make a powder of Cashew, cumin powder & chili powder.
6. Now add in 1/4 cup of warm water to this cashew powder & set aside.
7. In a Pan add 2 tbspn of ghee & add the cashew paste in it. Cook this on low flame for about 2 minutes, until fat separate.
8. Now mix in the cooked chicken into this fried cashew paste & give it a good mix. 
9. Finally garnish the dish with some lemon juice & coriander leaves.

Note:

1. In Singapore we get tender chicken so cook time is lesser. Well back in India the chicken is very hard, so you may have to cook the chicken for longer.
2. Since chicken has a lot of water in it, no need to add extra water. Just in case you feel the chicken is drying out & not cooked yet, only then add water.
3. If you want you can marinate the chicken with salt & turmeric powder & keep. I dint as I am always in a hurry to cook:)

Roast Chicken

If you have been following my blog for sometime then you must have realised that I love to experiment with food. Interest in food & cooking started when I was in 5th Standard. On weekends when my parents & sister used to sleep in the afternoon, I will be in the kitchen experimenting something. Fortunately I think I am blessed with magic in my hands. From those days I have been able to cook tasty food. My friends say that "Any one can cook "but very few people are gifted & whatever they make it turns out good. My friends who have tasted my food keep saying that even though they try my recipes they some how fail to get the same taste as I get:) Now I take pride in saying that I am gifted:) Some self praise.

Well my hubby is my food critic & because of him today I have reached a totally different level in cooking. All the heavy duty cooking started only after marriage. Before that I used to love cooking but never cooked as much as I do now. Going forward all my culinary innovation will be named after C2K (Corporate2kitchen), I made this chicken roast 2 weeks ago & I must confess that this is one of the best chicken roast I have ever had. The flavours were so mild & the chicken was marinated so well that we could feel the juices inside the chicken. The pic was taken at night a7 thats why the clarity is not so good. This chicken got over the same night.:) This is how I made it.

Serves: 4 chicken lovers.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken with skin on
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 tspn cardamom powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tspn cumin powder
• 1/2 tspn coriander powder
• 2 tbsp thick coconut cream
• salt as per taste
• 1 Tspn Kasuri Methi
• 1 tbsp Soya sauce
• 1/2 Tspn Coarsely powdered black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste

Method:

• Make a paste with all the above ingredients.
• Marinade the chicken well with this paste, Try & apply this paste between the chicken & the skin. Make sure that the chicken is well coated  & let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 to 4 hours. (You can also keep it overnight)
• Now preheat the oven to 260 degree for 10 mins & bake for about 45 to 60 mins in the middle rack.
• After 30 mins of baking you will see that the chicken is 70 % done & lot of fat separation around the tray.
• Scoop off some fat with a spoon & pour it on top of the chicken & let it bake until the chicken is full cooked.