A pungent healthy chicken recipe from Bengal made with ground mustard seeds and green chilies. Quick, easy and a family favourite.
Ingredients:
- 2 halves of a boneless chicken breast (300-350 g) and cut into 1-1½ inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon chili, ground
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
- 1 green chili, chopped
- 3 tablespoons coconut
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons of mustard oil
- 2 cloves
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 2 whole green chilies (optional)
- ½ cup yogurt
- chopped coriander for garnish (optional)
View this post on Instagram
Instructions:
- Soak mustard seeds in a quarter cup of water for 20 minutes.
- Cut chicken in the meantime into 1-11/2 inch chunks. Marinate cut chicken with salt, turmeric, and ground red chili.
- Grind the soaked mustard seeds with the green chili, coconut, and ¼ cup water.
- Heat mustard oil in a wok or deep frying pan on medium heat. Add sugar, and sauté for about 30 seconds until sugar caramelizes. Add cloves, stir and add chicken. (Don’t wait too long on sugar as the oil is very hot and sugar may crystallize again).
- Stir fry chicken for 5-6 minutes, until cooked through. (For additional flavor, add 2-3 whole green chilies at this point.)
- Now lower the heat, add mustard paste, and cover. Stir occasionally. Allow to cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Beat yogurt with ¼ cup water until smooth. Add to chicken. Allow chicken to cook on low heat, uncovered, for 5 minutes until you have thick gravy.
- Garnish with chopped coriander if desired. Serve with rice.
Critical Ingredients:
The mustard seeds, of course are critical. If you don’t have both black and yellow, just use either as the full quantity. Make sure your seeds are fresh, or the sauce will become bitter. The first time you make this dish you may want to start with just 2 tablespoons mustard, as the dish is quite pungent! If you use dried (not sweetened) or desiccated coconut, soak it in milk for ½ hour in advance. The mustard oil enhances the mustard flavour, but it is an acquired taste. You can use any flavourless mustard oil and still get adequate flavour, as the mustard sauce is quite pungent. The cloves can also be dropped if required. If you can’t caramelize the sugar (or don’t want to) just add it to the mustard sauce to balance the pungency of the sauce.
