Restaurant Style Chicken Chaap

If you have ever been under diet you will see that irrespective of what kind of diet you are facing, there will be two common rules - 1.eat healthy and 2. take your diner around 8 to 8:30p.m. Mine has been no different. My husband prefers to eat late, but I always start to have diner sharp at 8:30. There is also another reason behind this specific time, that is, "Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyar" airs on 8:30.

Now here is a little history behind this time. The actual time of this particular serial is 10:30 but since our Ds tv connection comes via South Africa, we see every program according to their timings which is 2 hours prior to Cote d'ivoire's time. My husband loves this serial and it was him who started watching it from the beginning. On some fateful days, when he comes late from office, he calls me asks whether the serial has already started or not. There are really very few hindi programs we like to watch on t.v and "Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyar" is one of them. I like Ronit Roy's performance in this serial and I also feel the content is a little different from all the melodramatic Saas Bahu dramas.

Coming to the diet....I recently bought whole wheat pastas. I already had loads of pastas...but they were not whole wheat. And of course I could not throw them away..I probably had spent thousands for buying different shapes of pastas. But I can start...so I bought only whole wheat linguini and pene. Then last week I  made BIriyani and Chicken Chap..as my husband's cousin was coming for diner with his family. I had quite a large amount biriyani left over...and I ate Biriyani for breakfast, lunch and diner!!!! A true Biriyani lover!!!

I have already posted the recipe of Chicken Chaap, but that is a more mild and homely version. This one is richer and tastier. Try to include as much ingredients as you can and you will have a true restaurant style Chicken Chaap. Lovely!!!

Restaurant Style Chicken Chaap
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken legs
• 2 cups of thick yogurt
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 8-10 cashew nuts
• 1 tbsp melon seeds
• 3-4 green chili
• 2 medium onion
• 6-7 fat cloves of garlic
• 2 inch stick of ginger
• 2 petals of mace
• 1 tbsp home mad garam masala (recipe follows)
• 2 medium sticks of cinnamon
• 4 cloves
• 4 cardamom
• 5-6 black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 2 tbsp khoya 
• 1 tbsp roasted gram flour (sattu)
• 1 tsp mitha attar
• 1 tbsp rose water
• 2 tsp kewra water / screw pine water
• 1 tsp saffron strands
• 1 tbsp warm milk
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• salt
• 1/2 cup ghee (you can use oil in place of ghee or mix oil and ghee into 1:1 ratio. Choice is yours. If you are using only oil add a little ghee in the end to have the wonderful authentic chicken chaap flavor.)

Home Made Garam Masala Powder:

• 1/2 tsp shah zeera / caraway seeds
• 6-8 black peppercorns
• 4-5 white peppercorns
• 1 medium cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamom
• 1 black cardamom
• 1/4 of a nutmeg
• 2 blades of mace
• 1/2 of a star anise

Method:

• Slit the chicken legs with a sharp knife for 2 or 3 times, on each side.
• Now dry roast the ingredients under the home made garam masala list and grind them to a fine powder.
• Take the warm water and soak the saffron strands into it. The milk will transform into a nice yellow color pretty soon.
• Make a fine paste of the onion, ginger-garlic and green chili, using a little water.
• Make a fine paste of the poppy seeds, cashew nuts and melon seeds using a little water. They should be smooth and not a grain should be present there. Grind the poppy seeds first and then add the nuts. You can soak the nuts and melon seeds in warm water for 10-15 minutes before grinding to make them tender.
• Now take a large bowl in which you can put 8 chicken legs. In that bowl first dump all the ingredients for marination - yogurt, onion-ginger-garlic-chili paste, poppy seeds and nuts paste, homemade garam masala, turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, khoya, roasted gram flour (sattu), rose water, kewra water / screw pine water, mitha attar, salt, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, saffron diluted milk and lime juice.
• Mix well and then add in the chicken pieces. Coat the chicken pieces well with the marination paste and try to insert some of the paste into the slit portions, so that the flavors can penetrate inside the meat.
• Marinate for at least 1 hour.2-3 hours of marination will be best.
• Take a heavy bottom pan. Kadai does not work best for this dish. Wee need something that has a flat bottom, and a thick flat bottomed pan will be perfect.
• Heat the ghee in it and add the whole spices - cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom, star anise and black peppercorns.
• As they start to sizzle put the flame to low and add the chicken pieces one by one. First shake off the excess marination from the chicken legs and then put it into the pan. Place the chicken pices side by side. Do not over crowd and do not place one upon another.
• When one side is browned moderately change the sides. This may take 5-7 minutes for each side. If your pan is small just take out the chicken pieces which has been browned from both the sides and keep in another bowl.
• When all the chicken pieces are done in this way, scrape down the marination paste into the pan and cook on low flame for 10 minutes. Scrape the bottom as needed so that it does not stick to the pan. Add a little water if you think the mixture has dried too much. Add water as much little as possible.
• Add the chicken pieces, mix well and put cover. Cook in this way for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the poppy seeds and chicken pieces are cooked properly. There should not be any smell of the poppy seeds. You will know the gravy is done when the oil starts to ooze out from the gravy.
• Check in between and scrape the bottom or add little water to avoid sticking to the pan. The entire cooking should be done on low flame. Do not hurry,this is not a dish to hurry. Take your time.
• Serve hot with Biriyani / Rumali Roti / Chapati / Tandoori Roti. It is delicious.