Mom Ishtyle Chicken Curry

Do you guys remember the famous Sundays of our school times? Yes my dear ones I am talking about the 7AM Rangoli program followed by 9AM Chandrakanta and then the 10AM Mahabharat...It was all so magical...and we used to always finish homework early so Baba will allow us to watch those Sunday programs...

Unlike today, we had only one day off in any week and that was Sunday....so we used to make good use of it.. finish all pending work.. press school uniforms.. and yeah.. run through the kitchen to get a nose-full of Mami's style chicken curry's "khushboo"...yummmyyyy...

The whole process starts with Baba going the market and getting fresh cut chicken. Yes, it is fresh cut chicken... which tastes the best with Mami's recipe.. then the masala getting ground in our very own old style "grinder".. It's not a blender.. and then the famous chicken curry cooking starts.... spreading the awesome aroma all around... :)

I don't have the exact measurements of all ingredients (else I will be the same cook as my Mommy), but they are close.. as stated by my sis !!

Chicken - 2.5 lbs

For the ground masala (to be wet ground)

2 inch ginger piece

8-10 garlic cloves (yes lots of garlic)

1 stick cinnamon

5 cardamoms

1 tea spoon jeera seeds

4 cloves

1 tea spoon coriander seeds (Do not worry, if you don't have them.. yo u can skip and add powder later)

2-3 red chillies

1/2 onion (red preferred)

Rest ingredients....

2 medium onions chopped small

2 small tomatoes (or 1 medium) chopped small

1-2 bay leaves

4 small potatoes (cubed and lightly fried in hot mustard oil)

Turmeric powder

Jeera powder

Dhaniya powder

Red Chilli powder

Garam masala powder

Coriander leaves chopped very small

1/2 spoon sugar

Salt to taste

Mustard oil for the marinade and cooking

Wash chicken nicely and drain off all water.

Marinate with salt + turmeric + a little mustard oil for 30mins.

Heat mustard oil until you see smoke coming off of the pan.

Add bay leaves + sugar + onions together.

Let the onions fry and become brown.

Add the wet masala (this is when the nice aroma starts... uncooked masala aroma of course)

Fry until the masala starts to look more brown.

Add tomatoes + salt + jeera powder + dhaniya powder + salt + garam masala powder + red chilli powder and mix well... You may add a little bit of water so that the masala does not burn before cooking.

Cook the masala well. The raw smell should go away and you should get a nice "kassa" masala smell.

Now add the chicken and fry for 15 mins covered (with 5 mins gap between stirs)

When the chicken is like 25% done, add the potatoes and mix well.

Now this is what my mom does... which I don't do always...

She transfers the whole thing into a pressure cooker and pressure cooks the chicken + potatoes in it.. after adding about 2 cups of water (We love the gravy)

The moment the first whistle goes .. phhiiisssshhhhh... We would get that awesome smell of the chicken curry...and go to the kitchen with some "bahana" like to drink water.. or to wash hands or something.. :)

It takes like 3 whistles or so.. for the curry to be super ready..

I usually cook it covered in the pan and it takes 20 mins more than mom.

When everyone's ready to eat, add the chopped coriander leaves on top and give the gravy a quick stir.

This curry has to be served with rice. Roti does not make any justice to this recipe. Well, it does if you save some for dinner. And this IS a lunch thing, when you can sit and watch TV and eat.. and then go for a walk because you'd be having a bubble tummy !!