CHICKEN BHARTA

Who doesn’t love chicken? Varieties of dishes and cuisines can be made with chicken. You might have heard about Chicken Bharta. This is one of the popular north Indian cuisines. But at present, this dish is famous all over India and is served to millions of customers in different restaurants and dhabas. It hardly takes half an hour to cook this popular and tasty dish. All you need to do is to get hold of the best Indian spices which are the main ingredients in the preparation of this dish.

INGREDIENTS:

·         500 gm boneless chicken

·         Whole garam masala (cloves, cinnamon sticks, two three pods of cardamom)

·         2 bay leaves

·         Indian spices (turmeric, coriander, jeera, red chili, Kashmiri chili powder)

·         Kasuri methi

·         Half cup yoghurt

·         Black pepper

·         2 Sliced Onions and 2 tomatoes

·         Ginger garlic paste

·         Green chilies

·         Two hard boiled eggs

·         Fresh cream (unsweetened)

·         Butter

·         Refined oil

·         Salt

METHOD:

·         Wash the boneless chicken pieces and shred them into smaller pieces. After shredding the pieces, marinate the chicken with half cup yoghurt, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Keep the bowl of marinated chicken aside. Slice the two onion and tomatoes.

·         Take a kadhai or a deep frying pan. Add 4 big tablespoons of oil and let it heat. After the oil gets heated, start adding the whole garam masalas one by one along with two bay leaves. Add the sliced onion and tomatoes and stir fry it until it is golden brown in color. While stirring the mixture add a pinch of salt, turmeric, coriander, jeera, red chili, Kashmiri chili powder and give it a nice mix.

·         After the mixture becomes soft and tender and starts sizzling, add the marinated chicken and mix it well. Cover the mixture with the lid of the kadhai or pan and let it simmer under low flame. After 5 minutes, open the lid and add a small amount of water so that the chicken does not get burnt and get stick to the base of the kadhai. Cover the lid again for 5 minutes and let the chicken get cooked.

·         After 5 minutes, open the lid and add fresh cream as per your wish along with a dollop of butter. Add a pinch of salt if required. Cut the hard boiled eggs into small pieces and mix it with the chicken. Add a pinch of garam masala powder and mix it well. Crush kasuri methi on your hand and sprinkle it over the chicken bharta. Switch the gas off and take off the chicken bharta into a nice serving platter.

Your dish is ready to be served to your guests or family. Chicken bharta tastes bests with tandoori roti or butter naan; but you can also have it with plain rice or pulao.

Garnish your chicken bharta with slit green chilies, fresh cream and fresh coriander leaves.