One more weekend – one more excuse to revisit a recipe from my favourite cook-book, the PP gastronomic bible – गृहिणी मित्र! 

I’ve had this at various PP homes right since i was a kid… And every family has their own version with varying tastes and colour!

Here’s mine…

  And here’s the original from the book

  
Ingredients and Prep!

Chicken – 1 kg ( I get my butcher to weigh out a live chicken that’s around 1.5 kg)… I get it portioned into curry cuts, separate the offal (discard or use in a separate dish later) and the bony bits like the neck, rib cage and wings from the meaty leg and breast portions.

4 potatoes – peel and quarter, apply some salt, red chilli, turmeric and PP sambhar, deep fry and set aside.

4 onions – slice length wise and leave aside a tbsp. Deep fry the rest to a golden color, drain and divide into 2 portions.

Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tsp

Haldi – 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 2 tsp

Pathare Prabhu Sambhaar Powder – 2 tsp

Assorted nuts-dry fruit (pistachios, almonds, raisins and cashewnuts)

Finely chopped fresh coriander and mint – 4/5 tbsp

  
For marinating the meaty chicken pieces (leg and breast portions) – whisk together 2 tbsp dahi with 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp each of red chilli and PP sambhaar, 1 tbsp each of crushed green chilli, ginger and garlic.

Apply the marinade to the meaty chicken pieces and leave it for at least 2-3 hours (or overnight in the refrigerator)

Aromatics to be tied in a potli – 1/2″ sliced ginger, 3-4 crushed garlic pods, 1 tsp each of fennel, coriander and cumin seeds to be tied into a muslin cloth.

    
Aged Basmati Rice – 2 cups – wash and soak in water for half hour, drain and set aside for 10 minutes.

Method

1. Throw the Bony bits of the chicken with the reserved raw onion, a tsp of red chilli, sambhaar and turmeric, half the coriander-mint and the aromatics in a sachet (potli) in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water. Cook these under pressure for around 20 minutes (1 whistle and simmer for 15 minutes)

  
2. Drain the stock and set aside… (The pressure cooked meat off the bones may be used for a sandwich later). Grind the residual onions and aromatics to a paste and leave aside.

3. Heat 3-4 tsp of ghee in a pressure cooker,  fry the assorted nuts and raisin and set aside.

  
4. Add the marinated meaty chicken pieces and brown over a high flame for 2-3 minutes

  
5. Add in tsp of shahijeera and once it crackles add the drained rice and sauté on a medium flame for around 4-5 minutes 

  
6. Place the browned chicken, ground aromatics, fried potatoes, half the fried onions, half the chopped leaves and add in 4 cups of boiling stock.

  
7. Add salt to taste and pressure cook for 15 minutes (1 whistle and simmer for 10 minutes)

 8. Once the pressure is off, garnish with the rest of the nuts, chopped mint-coriander and fried nuts and raisins

  
Serve hot with some onion and tomato kachumber!