Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Murgir/Mangsho Jhol

Murgir/Mangsho Jhol is one of the most traditional food in Bengali cuisine. It's a very common and comfort food in Bengali households that features often in Sunday's lunch menu and one of the oldest weekend favorites of Bongs. Basically, it is a kind of Chicken Curry, in which, chicken and potatoes are immersed. Using big pieces of potatoes in meat curries is a signature of Bengalis, which is not seen elsewhere. This is a spicy preparation and generally served with steamed rice. The most substantial ingredient of making this chicken curry/jhol is mustard oil. It gives pungent and an earthy flavor to this curry. The same recipe can be used for mutton as well. So, let's try making this aromatic and delicious Murgir Jhol with "Flavors of Sneha's Kitchen".   



Murgir Jhol


Ingredients
500 gms of Chicken cut into small pieces (washed & pat dried)
2 big potatoes cut into quarter sizes
1 big onion thinly sliced
Puree of 1 big onion
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup of yogurt
2 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
3 green chilies slitted
4 cloves
4 peppercorn
4 cardamom
1" cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp of garam masala powder
1/4 cup of mustard oil
1 tsp of sugar
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves



Method:

In a large bowl, mix yogurt, 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder and salt. Now, add the chicken and mix with the marination and let it rest for 15-20 mints.

Heat little bit of mustard oil in a pan and shallow fry the potatoes. Put some salt and turmeric powder for seasoning and fry on high heat until you see some golden spots on potatoes.

Now, heat rest of the mustard oil in the same pan and crackle the whole garam masala (Bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, peppercorn & cinnamon). Add sliced onion and green chillies. Also, add sugar and little bit of salt. Saute until it turns golden brown.

Now, add ginger-garlic paste and fry until the raw flavor of garlic is gone.

Next, add onion puree and cook for a while. The onion should cook completely.

Next, add chopped tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes gets soft.

Once, tomatoes are nice and soft, add red chilli powder, cumin powder & coriander powder. Mix well and fry until oil starts appearing from the corners.

Next, add the marinated chicken and fried potatoes. Allow it to cook on high flame for 10-15 minutes without covering the pan. Don't forget to stir occasionally, because we don't the chicken to be burnt from the bottom.

Once, the moisture is evaporated completely, put the lid on and cook this on medium flame until chicken is soft and start falling off the bones. In the meantime, check for seasoning and add some sugar and salt, if required.

Now pour about 1 and half cup of hot water. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Next, add garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well, cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes.

The delicious Murgir Jhol is ready to be served. Serve hot with steamed rice and enjoy.




Note: When shallow frying the potatoes, make sure it doesn't get very soft because its gonna cook again with chicken and we don't want to end up with mushy potatoes. Cooking the chicken on high flame, helps to seal the moisture and also, it gives a nice golden color to the curry. Murgir Jhol is usually a thin curry preparation, but since I like semi gravy consistency, so I have added less water. If you want thin curry, you may add some more water.