Chicken Biryani

Ingredients
8 Chicken thighs
3 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
3 green chilies
2 large onions
3 tomatoes
1/2 bunch of coriander leaves
2 potatoes
4 eggs
1.5 cups of basmati rice
2 Star anise/cinnamon stick.

For the marinade
1 cup yoghurt
2 teaspoon each chili, turmeric, cumin-coriander powders
2 teaspoon garam masala
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Boil eggs, cut them into halves and keep aside.
Step 2: Cut potatoes into slices, lightly sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes at 350F. Alternatively, you can also shallow fry the potatoes.
Step 3: Cut the chicken thighs into small pieces, and marinate them in yoghurt and spices listed above and keep aside for a few hours.
Step 4: Sauté the sliced onions and slit green chilies in ghee or oil of your choice on low-medium heat until they are caramelized.

 

Step 5: Add the diced onions and let it cook well.

Step 6: Finely chop the fresh coriander leaves and add it to the mix and let it cook.

 

Step 7: Add the marinated chicken to this and let it cook until the chicken is well done. Add salt and more spice to suit your taste.

Step 6: Pressure cook the rice separately with some oil, star anise and cinnamon stick.

Step 9: Once the chicken is done, in a separate dish, layer the curry at the bottom, add rice, potatoes. The top most layer should be rice. 

Step 9: Garnish on top with some more coriander leaves and boiled eggs. Once its layered, let the biryani cook on low heat for around 10-15 minutes.

Step 10: Serve hot with a side of yoghurt/or salad of your choice.

My experience with Bengali cuisine

Mutton curry

  Paturi           

Kolkata, for those who don't know, is one of the India's largest cities. It is also the capital of West Bengal, a state located in the east of the country which shares a border with Bangladesh.

In my college days, I had Bengali friends and consequently had the opportunity to try a lot of Bengali food. At Bengali restaurants my preferred dishes were the fish cutlets while the home favorites were fish curries/fried fish. With respect to local (DC) restaurants, I am partial to the roast chicken and biryanis at one of Arlington's Bangla restaurant, Gharer Khabar.

With many memories linked with food, I was really keen on visiting Kolkata during my visit to India. Last winter, we got to spend a few days in Kolkata  and had a chance to enjoy some of its local cuisine.

The Mughlai influences on its food were reflected in their preparations of biryani, mutton curry and kathi rolls. I absolutely loved their mutton curry which I had the chance to try with freshly made pooris (or as the Bengalis would call them "loochis"). The kathi rolls were also delicious. Many of the dishes we tried could be found at our hotel. The Bengali breakfast we tried at Westin was surprisingly authentic. It was mostly a simple preparation of veggies with "loochis". The hotel also offered a vast menu comprised of Indian breakfast items from idli-vada to pao bhaji, all of which were quite good.

Kathi Rolls

Bengali cuisine boasts of a lot of fish, predominantly river fish. While the fish dishes I tried didn't entirely disappoint me, the strong mustard flavor in the dishes wasn't to my taste. I loved the home-made styled fish curry (macher jhol), which was cooked with veggies (ours had cauliflower and potato) and served with rice. We also tried some other traditional delicacies of fish cutlets and paturi (fish cooked with mustard in a banana leaf) at a highly recommended local favorite called 6 Ballygungeplace.

Finally, Bengali sweets are well-known. If you are ever in the city, one must not miss out on their very popular rashogollas. My personal favorites are Kheer Kadam and Chom Chom, that brought back memories for me of a small Bengali restaurant in Pune that first introduced me to the cuisine.