Kosha Murgi

Bengali cuisine is a culinary style originating in the eastern part of the Indian sub-continent. Bengali cuisine is usually known for its sweet palette, however it's dishes are known for their subtle yet in some cases fiery dishes. With an emphasis on fish, vegetables and lentils it is usually served with rice as a staple diet.

Over the weekend while researching some Indian recipes I came across this very interesting recipe called Kosha Murgi. Koshay is one of the six taste palettes that's part of Bengali cuisine. Koshay or Kosha, meaning fried for a long time with ground and whole spices over high heat until shallot/garlic/ginger have dissolved into a thick paste. This technique works well slow cooked meat. It had me at fried and spices. So here's my take on the Bengali Kosha Murgi.

Now there are plenty of recipes all over the internet for this dish with some cooking it on a pan, some in a pressure cooker, some with sugar, some with jaggery and so on. So I decided to use this tips and came up with my own technique.  

You'll need:

4-5 large chicken thighs, skin on

2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp dry mustard seeds

1 1/2 cumin seeds

5-6 green chillies

1/2 garlic pod

3-4 inch fresh ginger julienne cut 

2 medium sized onions thinly sliced

1 cup yogurt

1/2 lime juice

Most of the recipes usually ask you to marinade the meat with yogurt for an hour or two. I've recently started using a brine method to get juicy succulent meat in my curries. I put the thighs in a simple brine with salt sugar and some dry herbs overnight. Then dry off the meat and marinade with yogurt and ginger garlic paste. Set it aside.

Fry the onions until golden brown and set them aside. Yes, I did not use onions as the usual base for an Indian curry.

Bengali cuisine uses a lot of mustard oil, It's totally up to you when it come to oil. I used ghee and it worked out well enough. So heat oil/ghee in a deep pan over medium heat. First add the mustard seeds/cumin and once they start popping add the sugar to it. The sugar caramelise quickly so you have to keep stirring. Now add the dry spices in and half a cup of water to it and stir around. 

Once the spices are cooked, reduce the flame and add the chicken. Cover and cook for 15 mins over medium heat. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks or burns at the bottom. You can always add a little water to the chicken to deglaze the pan and avoid the meat from burning. You will now see the oil separating and settling at the top, at this stage add the fried onions, green chillies and lemon juice and give it a good stir. Reduce the flame and cook uncovered for another 30 mins on a really low flame. What you want is the water to evaporate and have a thick sauce covering your meat.

Garnish the prepared dish with fresh ginger. Serve with hot naan, steamed rice or simply hot chapatis!

I simply bhalobashi this Kosha Murgi, and hope you do too!