Murgir Jhol | Bengali Patla Chicken Curry |
Murgir Jhol (Bengali Chicken Curry) is spicy, delicious and soupy chicken curry with potatoes flavoured with aromatic whole spices. Aloo diye Murgir jhol is a quick and easy Sunday special Bengali recipe best eaten with piping hot rice with a squeeze of lime.
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
- Large bowl
- large thick bottomed pan
Ingredients
Marination:
- 1 kg Chicken
- 1 small Onion roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 inch Ginger roughly chopped
- 6-7 large Garlic pods roughly chopped
- 2 1/2 tbsp Yogurt
- 2 tsp Lime/lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Mustard oil
For the Curry:
- 3-4 medium Potatoes washed, peeled and cut in half
- 2 Large Onions thinly sliced
- 2-3 Green Chillies slit
- 2-3 Bay leaves
- 2x1 inch Cinnamon
- 5-6 Cloves roughly pounded in pestle n mortar
- 5-6 Green Cardamom roughly pounded in pestle n mortar
- 1/2 tsp Bengali Garam masala
- 1 tsp Ghee
- 1 tsp Sugar
- Salt as per taste
- 3 tbsp Mustard Oil/ Veg oil
Instructions
Marination:
- Firstly add onion, ginger, garlic, yogurt in a mixer grinder and ground into a paste.
- In a large bowl add the chicken and all the ingredients mentioned under marination along with the onion-ginger-garlic paste.
- Mix it really well with hands and cover and keep it aside for at least 30 minutes.
To make the Chicken Curry:
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large thick bottomed pan/ Kadhai on medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot toss in the potatoes along with some salt and fry till the potatoes are golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep it aside.
- Add the rest of the oil in the same pan and heat it on medium high heat. Temper it bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms and saute until the oil is infused with the flavours of the spices.
- Add in the sugar and heat is slightly until it caramelises a bit. (This adds a lovely reddish tinge to the curry).
- Now add the sliced onions and saute on medium high heat until it is soft and golden brown in colour.
- Now add in the marinated chicken along with the marinade and cook on medium high heat stirring continuously for 9-10 minutes or until the meat is no longer raw.
- Now add in the fried potatoes along with some salt and mix it well with the chicken. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes stirring frequently so that it does not stick to the pan.
- When the chicken looks dried up (kosha) and you see oil seeping through the sides, add 2-3 green chillies and 2 1/2 cups of hot water(you can adjust the amount of water as per your liking, add more water if you like the jhol more thin) to the chicken and and potatoes.
- When the chicken curry starts boiling, check the seasoning add salt or sugar if required.
- Cover and cook on low to medium heat until the chicken and the potatoes are cooked through.
- FInally add Bengali Garam masala and 1 tsp ghee to the curry and give it a good mix. Boil for another 2 minutes and take it off the heat.
- Serve it hot with rice or roti or paratha.
