I first tasted this recipe when I was in Bhubaneswar. (are you laughing at me?, well I have a solid excuse) When we heard that Siraj restaurant had opened a branch there, which was in kolkata already, all the (well, most of all) members of IOP drove towards it. Mainly the bongs those who were used to miss kolkata style biriyani.
But it was not the first time of visit. Me and Sam loved to go Siraj at least once or twice in 15 days...just for the kababs and biriyani. Then one day we ordered mutton rezala. And BUMB!! I found what did I actually missed...why didn't I ever tried this menu from other restaurants? It was really amazing. I felt so stupid.
Once upon a time (It was around 1998-99, I can't remember the time clearly) I was in standard 7 or 8, Baba (my father) declared that he was going to make a new dish called "mutton rezala". My father also can cook well and my mother had learned many of dishes from him after their marriage. Every Sunday baba loved to prepare chicken or mutton dishes and it became a tradition for many years in our tiny nuclear family. Even still now he cooks when guests come. Of course he doesn't do all alone, maa helps. We had a cook book of Bela Dey and Lila Majumder at that time, and most of the experiments were based upon it. After my marriage baba gave me that book. This rezala-recipe was that book's child. So, when the dish was almost done, baba found a soupy texture. But according to him mutton or chicken dishes should not be soupy, it should has thick gravy (a type of myth you can say). He didn't ask anybody, and added some ararot(arrowroot) powder in it. Now you can imagine how thick and glue like texture we had found!! The taste was really good but the whole thing went so wrong that I never tried to try this recipe. Maa and me had so much faith on him, that we never opened the rezala page from that book.
But now situations have changed. I love to prepare and experiment different kinds of dishes. Though the daily "thor-bori-khara" food preparations snatches my all enthuse. I found Priyanka Panigrahi's video from YouTube... and tried that. It was really very easy and all the ingredients were so easy to gather. Though I didn't follow the same. I was very much sure and satisfied that the whole thing went well. And when my guinea-pig returned from office and I seized him towards my pressure cooker (the thing was there) without a little hint; he took a look, grasped the fragrance, and shouted out with full volume.... "yes!!! REZALAAAAAAA"
Do you want the same? You may then follow my way and you will need,
- Chicken- large or medium pieces. I used 750 grams.
- Onion- 1 large, cut in round and thick slices
- Onion paste- 1 cup
- Ginger-Garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Green Chili- 2 or 3
- Sugar- 1/2 tsp
- Salt as required
- Cashew- 3 or 4 pieces
- Poppy seeds- 2 tsp
- Yogurt/Curd- 1 and 1/2 cup
- Bay leaves- 2
- Red chili- 2
- Green Cardamom- 5 to 6
- Cinnamon- 1"
- Cloves- 4
- Black peppercorn (whole)- 4 to 5 (I didn't use it, just because I didn't have it. So it is optional)
- Oil- 2 tablespoon
- Ghee- 2 to 3 tablespoon
Now the preparation-
Marinate the chicken with 1/2 cup curd for 10-15 minutes.
In the mean time make a paste of poppy seeds, cashew and green chili. Mix onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, 1 tsp salt with it.
Now marinate the chicken with this paste and oil; leave it in refrigerator for 1 hour.
Take the rest curd, add sugar, salt and very little water (if you think). Beat it well until it become very smooth. Keep aside.
And time for cooking-
Take a pressure cooker (you may use any deep bottomed pan). Add the ghee, let it melt fully, add the whole garam masalas i.e Bay leaf, Red chili, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorn. Let them splutter.
Add the marinated chicken and cook for 10 minutes. Don't forget to stir.
 |
| Marinated chicken after 1 hour |
Add the beaten curd and onion; saute for another 1-2 minutes.
Take the taste, if you need more salt. Add required water. Cover the cooker and cook until the chicken is fully cooked. It is done now. So easy right??
Coming up with Niramish Mangsho, Jeera Rice, Chanar Dalna and Karhai Mushroom... Keep in touch
No comments:
Post a Comment