Bengali Chicken Roast

Bengali Chicken Roast is a spicy masaledar roast with some simple ingredients! I just love the look of this roast with that big piece of roasted chicken dunked in the gravy! This dish was in my bucket list since I saw a recipe a few months back finally here I got an opportunity to try it again through MFB challenge and just loved this one!

Mfb challenge for this month is to cook from the blog Afelias Kitchen and I wonder why i didn’t know about this blog before! It has many wonderful recipes which are well explained with beautiful pics. Just fell in love with her blog who is a Bangladeshi settled in London. Just go through it for many more delicious recipes. This recipe is surely a keeper

She said Bengali Roast Chicken (pronounced as ‘Roosht’, by Bengalis) is often served as a starter to a formal invitation for guests or to the start of a wedding meal. This is a very popular dish and is one of the most popular starters amongst Bangladeshis. It’s very easy to prepare with very basic ingredients we have in the kitchen.

The recipe calls for curry powder, but I didn’t add that because I don’t like that flavor, but if you like u can add it. Trust me it tasted awesome in this way too. Shallow frying chicken in ghee gives a special and unique flavor to the dish, so don’t skip that portion. I used 2 tbsp ghee and 2 tbs oil. So without further delay lets check out the recipe.

Ingredients

For Marinade

• 4 pieces of quartered chicken washed and drained (you can use tandoori chickens or baby chickens for this purpose)
• 1 tsp chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
•  salt to taste
• 2 tbsp yogurt

Note: If you are using curry powder(1tsp) skip chilly powder

For the masala:

• 2 tbsp ghee+ 2 tbsp oil
• 2bay leaves
• 1 large cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamom pods
• 2 large onions
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp of crushed ginger
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp mixed curry powder (I skipped it)
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 5 green chilies
• coriander to garnish

Method

1. Start by scoring the chicken pieces.(you should have washed and drained the chicken already). This will help the spices penetrate the flesh of the chicken better.
2. Add the spices for marinating the chicken turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, chilly powder and yogurt, mix together well. You can leave this to marinate for a few hours if you want the chicken to be tender alternatively fry it straight away, both methods work well.
3. Using a good non-stick frying pan add ghee + oil, once the ghee is fully melted and HOT add the chicken pieces one by one. Over a medium flame fry for 5 minutes either side to achieve a golden color on the outside, the inside of the chicken will cook fully once added to the masala.
4. While the chicken fries, finely slice 6 garlic cloves, slice 2 large onions. and slice green chilies. If you want the heat of the chillies to be released in the dish then slice along the middle to expose the seeds.
5. Once you can see juices flowing from the top side of the chicken pieces the chicken is ready to turn over, fry for 5 more minutes on the uncooked side. Once both sides have browned adequately you can transfer them to the dish you used to marinate them in (saves on the washing, they will be cooked again so don’t worry about cross contamination).
6. In the same frying pan scrape off any browned/caramelized parts as these bits contain lots of flavors. Make sure the ghee is hot and add the whole spices.
7. Once you can smell the aroma add the 2 sliced onions and 6 cloves of sliced garlic and half of the chilies followed by 1 tsp of ginger and salt (adjust to your preference). Stir, cover and cook the onions till soft and translucent (about 8 – 10 minutes).
8. Once the onions look translucent add the spices for the masala. Mix the spices and fry for 2 minutes over a low flame. Next, add ½ a glass of water to loosen the masala.
9. Cover again and allow to cook for a further 3 – 4 minutes or until you can see the ghee/fat separate from the masala (it should be bubbling around the edges of the pan). Add the chicken pieces to the masala, including any juices that may have drained whilst sitting in the bowl.
10. Place some of the masalas on top of the chicken pieces and cover to cook the chicken through completely (a further 10 – 15 minutes).
11. Once the chicken is completely cooked add rest of the sliced green chilies and chopped coriander to garnish and promptly remove from the heat.

Video Tutorial!

Enjoy!!!

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