Kosha Murgi

When we grew up it was common for the local club to organize Sunday picnics in the winter. It was a huge affair where dozens of country chickens were brought it and the local youth sat down to clean and cook them under the watchful eyes of the senior citizens.

One of the guys in our neighborhood specialized in cooking at this large scale (say for over 200 people). Once a friend’s mom asked him for his recipe. He started ranting about fistful of chili powders and salt and she begged him to stop and ran away.

We miss our childhood picnic, but there is no need to miss out what we used to have in it. This is a scaled down version of that picnic Kosha Murgi. Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

1. 1 kg whole cut chicken (medium sized pieces)
2. 2 large potatoes cut into halves
3. 3 large onions sliced
4. 2 large tomatoes cut into halves
5. 1tbsp ginger paste
6. 1 tbsp. garlic paste
7. 1 tbsp. turmeric powder
8. 2 tbsp. chili powder
9. 1 tbsp. Bengali garam masala powder
10. Salt
11. Sugar
12. 4- 5 tbsp. of mustard oil
13. For Tempering
    1. 2,3 bay leaves or tejpatta
    2. Whole garam masala
    3. 1" cinnamon
    4. 2,3 green cardamom
    5. 5,6 cloves

Procedure

Heat mustard oil in a pan and temper with bay leaves and whole garam masala. Once the oil becomes fragrant add 1 tsp. sugar and wait till it melts. This will help to get a gorgeous red colored gravy.

Throw in the slivered onions along with a pinch of salt. You need lots of patience to fry them for a long time on low heat. When the edges of the onion slices turn brown add potato and chicken pieces and fry them on medium high heat. Add ginger garlic paste to it and sauté for a while.

Add all dry spices and mix well to coat the chicken pieces with all the spices. Cover and cook for 5 mins and then add tomatoes.

Add salt and sugar to your taste. Give it a nice mix.

Cover and cook on medium heat till the chicken is soft. The chicken will be cooked in its own moisture and the juices released by tomatoes. Allow the extra gravy to dry up. Season with bengali garam masala.

Chicken kosha goes well with paratha or pair it with some white rice. We had it on for Sunday lunch along with some macher mathar daal