Chicken Hara Masala

I loved this chicken curry. That's all I can say!!

A true Hyderabadi delicacy, for the nawabs! Well, since we are no nawabs, regular yogurt is replaced with no fat yogurt, 1 cup almond is reduced to 10 almonds (limiting consumption to 5 almonds per person, which is considered a healthy portion! Feels good, isn't it!) and doing away with cream altogether.  But feel free to add if you want it real creamy.

For those who may want to know what taste and flavors to expect, let me do that quickly as I can't wait to share this awesome recipe with you all. Its nice refreshing and a very mild yet flavorful chicken curry. This is one of those recipes in which, the spices are so few that you begin to wonder if the curry will have any taste/ flavor at all (there are no whole spices too!) and within the first 5-10 min, you will know you are making something special! 

And for those who are curious about food, it's interesting how there is always some science behind food preparation. When the royal chefs/ khansamas prepared food for the royals, they carefully chose ingredients that would go in a specific dish. For this recipe, the heat of the almonds is compensated with the cooling property of the coriander and mint! 

You need:

Chicken – 500 grams 

Fresh coriander leaves/ Cilantro – ½  Cup

Fresh mint leaves – ¼ Cup 

Green chilies - 4 Nos. (adjust to taste)

Coconut, scraped – ¼ Cup

Almonds – 7-8 (peeled and made into a paste)

Yogurt – ½  Cup (I used no fat yogurt)

Salt -to taste

Oil- 3 tablespoons

Onion -  2 medium (thin sliced)

Ginger paste – ½ Tbsp

Garlic paste – ½ Tbsp

Curry leaves – 7-8 nos. 

Coriander powder – 1.5 tablespoon

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp 

Fresh cream - 1 cup (Optional, I skipped this in my dish as it was creamy enough)

1. Grind the coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies, scraped coconut, with minimum amount of water to a very fine paste. 
2. Grind almonds to paste.
3. Marinate chicken with 2 tsp of yogurt, salt, a pinch each of turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala. Cover with a cling wrap and keep it in the fridge. 
4. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions and sauté till brown. The onions should be slightly dark brown(see my note below to cut down on oil consumption). Add ginger paste, garlic paste and sauté for 1-2 min.
5. Add curry leaves and mix well. 
6. Add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, salt and mix well. Fry for 1 min. 
7. Add the chicken and fry for 2-3 min till it coats all the masala.
8. Add yogurt and mix well. 
9. Add the ground green paste
10. Cover and cook for 5 min on medium high. Make sure you check in between so that it doesn't burn.
11. Add almond paste, mix well, cover and allow to cook on a slightly lower heat for 5 minutes or till chicken is cooked through.  
12. Lastly add fresh cream and mix well. (adding cream is optional, I had skipped in mine :) )
13. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of garam masala, mix well and remove from heat. 
14. Serve hot.

*To peel almonds – In a bowl take enough water to cover the almonds and microwave for 45 seconds. Remove and check if the skin peels off when almonds are pressed. Be careful as the water may be hot. If not ready, heat a little more. Keep checking as different ovens may have different settings and it also depends on how many almonds you are trying to pee. It's important to check every 15-20 secs after the first 45 seconds, as you don't want to dry out the almonds by over cooking. 

**As soon as you tip in the onions, add a little salt. This will sweat the onions, release all the moisture and onions will not soak oil. Once the onions are brown, pull them to the side/ rim of the pan, let the oil ooze out of the onions and collect in the center. Remove this extra oil leaving just a little to cook the remaining ingredients that you will add later. This  makes sure your onions are nicely browned and at the same time no extra oil remains in the curry.