I decided to kick start this new week with an exotic chicken gravy called the Dum Chicken which is cooked in a unique style with the end result being a delicious and an aromatic gravy.
The Dum chicken is cooked through a slow process of almost 45-50 minutes with tightly sealed edges of your vessel and without any stirring. You will be able to taste the extra & the big flavour of the slow cooking process with this dish. The key to this extra flavour is the chicken marination. The more the marination time, the more flavourful your dish turns out to be. So I suggest that you marinate the chicken a day in advance and shut it in the freezer of your refrigerator and remove it out atleast 2 hours before you want to start cooking. You will notice that once this tangy and spicy marinated chicken hits the stove, its less than an hour for you to sail to yummy town.
Overall, its a truly delish recipe with abundantly amazing and healthy flavours. I'd surely give it a 10 stars.
To get a grip of what's in the offing for big days such as parties or other occasions, I suggest that you practice this recipe a couple of time before you attempt to flame up your guests gastronomic desires.
It also uses a spice bag that contains of a few types of garam masala spices which help to impart their royal flavours into the gravy throughout the cooking process.The cooking dish is sealed and placed on the stove till the ingredients inside convert themselves on their own from an untreated to a truly delicious stage.The aromas that fill your house when the lid is opened is simply heavenly. With a royal dish such as this, you can easily handle every party with equal grace & style.
Now coming to the recipe - I had a couple of versions of this recipe in my cook book. I had tried it earlier in the form of Dum Biryani. However I managed to find a fantastic recipe (almost the same) on a website with a lot of pictorial descriptions. I found this link very useful and tried to imitate the same recipe for myself with minor changes. For ease, I have divided this recipe into 3 yummy layers which when brought together form the Dum Chicken.
INGREDIENTS :
For the chicken marination:
1/2 Kg Chicken
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
6 Green chillies slit
Sour curds - 200 gms beaten
2-3 cloves
1 cinnamon
1 bayleaf
3 cardamoms
1/2 bunch mint leaves
1/2 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
1 full tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp cashew paste
a pinch garam masala powder
1/2 lemon squeezed for its juice/2 tsp vinegar
Marinate the chicken with all the above ingredients. Place this marinade in a refrigerator (freezer section) for atleast 2 hours, preferebly overnight. If freezing overnight, remove the chicken from the freezer atleast an hour before cooking.
For the Saffron - Milk Mixture:
1 pinch saffron
2 tbsp milk
Mix the saffron with the milk, heat it a bit and keep aside.
For the spice bag:
1 tbsp Shahi zeera
4-5 cloves
2-3 cinnamons
5-6 cardomoms
2 bayleaves crushed
Roots & stems of the mint and coriander leaves washed well.
Put all these ingredients into a small muslin cloth/cheese cloth, tie it up so as to resemble a sack and keep aside.
For the Golden onion layer
2 big onions finely sliced
2 tbsp clarified butter/Ghee
Heat the clarified butter in a pan, fry the onions in it until golden brown. Keep aside.
To Bring together the Layers:
1) In a big vessel, Pour 2-3 tbsp clarified butter/Oil. Over this, pour the marinated chicken along with its marinade. Put some water over it (atleast 3/4 cup).
2) Place the spice bag on this water. The spice is supposed to dip in this marinade.
3) Pour the golden onions over this layer.
4) Top it with the saffron-milk mixture.
5) Cover the vessel/vat with lid and seal the edges of the vessel with some wheat flour mixed with water.
6) Place this on a stove on high flame for the first 5-10 minutes. Then reduce the flame to medium and allow it to cook for another 10 minutes. Again reduce the flame and continue to cook on low flame for the 20 minutes.
7) If at any point of time you feel that the water inside may be drying up (sometimes you can get to hear by the sound coming from inside), you can place a flat metallic plate on the stove, then place your vessel on it and continue to cook on low flame.
8) By 40-45 minutes, you can assume that the chicken is done and oil has started coming up. Switch off the stove at this stage.
9) This chicken is best served with the seals of the vessel being removed directly at the table. Remove the spice bag, garnish with a few chopped coriander leaves, a spike of lemon juice & serve it with a bed of rice or parathas.
RATING NOTES:
** I used clarified butter mainly because of the lovely aroma it creates. You can also use cooking oil /olive oil instead.
** Sufficient water needs to be added to the marinated chicken before the cooking. As the cashew paste has the tendency of absorbing the water and browning the base of the vessel, thus spoiling the flavour of the dish.
** I realised that cooking in a non-stick vessel is better than cooking in an ordinary vessel.
** This dish is best cooked out of experience and practice. So dont lose heart if you go wrong in any stage.
The Dum chicken is cooked through a slow process of almost 45-50 minutes with tightly sealed edges of your vessel and without any stirring. You will be able to taste the extra & the big flavour of the slow cooking process with this dish. The key to this extra flavour is the chicken marination. The more the marination time, the more flavourful your dish turns out to be. So I suggest that you marinate the chicken a day in advance and shut it in the freezer of your refrigerator and remove it out atleast 2 hours before you want to start cooking. You will notice that once this tangy and spicy marinated chicken hits the stove, its less than an hour for you to sail to yummy town.
Overall, its a truly delish recipe with abundantly amazing and healthy flavours. I'd surely give it a 10 stars.
To get a grip of what's in the offing for big days such as parties or other occasions, I suggest that you practice this recipe a couple of time before you attempt to flame up your guests gastronomic desires.
It also uses a spice bag that contains of a few types of garam masala spices which help to impart their royal flavours into the gravy throughout the cooking process.The cooking dish is sealed and placed on the stove till the ingredients inside convert themselves on their own from an untreated to a truly delicious stage.The aromas that fill your house when the lid is opened is simply heavenly. With a royal dish such as this, you can easily handle every party with equal grace & style.
Now coming to the recipe - I had a couple of versions of this recipe in my cook book. I had tried it earlier in the form of Dum Biryani. However I managed to find a fantastic recipe (almost the same) on a website with a lot of pictorial descriptions. I found this link very useful and tried to imitate the same recipe for myself with minor changes. For ease, I have divided this recipe into 3 yummy layers which when brought together form the Dum Chicken.
INGREDIENTS :
For the chicken marination:
1/2 Kg Chicken
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
6 Green chillies slit
Sour curds - 200 gms beaten
2-3 cloves
1 cinnamon
1 bayleaf
3 cardamoms
1/2 bunch mint leaves
1/2 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
1 full tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp cashew paste
a pinch garam masala powder
1/2 lemon squeezed for its juice/2 tsp vinegar
Marinate the chicken with all the above ingredients. Place this marinade in a refrigerator (freezer section) for atleast 2 hours, preferebly overnight. If freezing overnight, remove the chicken from the freezer atleast an hour before cooking.
For the Saffron - Milk Mixture:
1 pinch saffron
2 tbsp milk
Mix the saffron with the milk, heat it a bit and keep aside.
For the spice bag:
1 tbsp Shahi zeera
4-5 cloves
2-3 cinnamons
5-6 cardomoms
2 bayleaves crushed
Roots & stems of the mint and coriander leaves washed well.
Put all these ingredients into a small muslin cloth/cheese cloth, tie it up so as to resemble a sack and keep aside.
For the Golden onion layer
2 big onions finely sliced
2 tbsp clarified butter/Ghee
Heat the clarified butter in a pan, fry the onions in it until golden brown. Keep aside.
To Bring together the Layers:
1) In a big vessel, Pour 2-3 tbsp clarified butter/Oil. Over this, pour the marinated chicken along with its marinade. Put some water over it (atleast 3/4 cup).
2) Place the spice bag on this water. The spice is supposed to dip in this marinade.
3) Pour the golden onions over this layer.
4) Top it with the saffron-milk mixture.
5) Cover the vessel/vat with lid and seal the edges of the vessel with some wheat flour mixed with water.
6) Place this on a stove on high flame for the first 5-10 minutes. Then reduce the flame to medium and allow it to cook for another 10 minutes. Again reduce the flame and continue to cook on low flame for the 20 minutes.
7) If at any point of time you feel that the water inside may be drying up (sometimes you can get to hear by the sound coming from inside), you can place a flat metallic plate on the stove, then place your vessel on it and continue to cook on low flame.
8) By 40-45 minutes, you can assume that the chicken is done and oil has started coming up. Switch off the stove at this stage.
9) This chicken is best served with the seals of the vessel being removed directly at the table. Remove the spice bag, garnish with a few chopped coriander leaves, a spike of lemon juice & serve it with a bed of rice or parathas.
RATING NOTES:
DIFFICULTY LEVEL : MEDIUM
RATING POINTS : 6/10**
RATING POINTS : 6/10**
** I used clarified butter mainly because of the lovely aroma it creates. You can also use cooking oil /olive oil instead.
** Sufficient water needs to be added to the marinated chicken before the cooking. As the cashew paste has the tendency of absorbing the water and browning the base of the vessel, thus spoiling the flavour of the dish.
** I realised that cooking in a non-stick vessel is better than cooking in an ordinary vessel.
** This dish is best cooked out of experience and practice. So dont lose heart if you go wrong in any stage.
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