Murghi Ka Salan -- Murgir Jhol by any other name

Has anyone seen Maya, the Indian Princess. The cute rounded Indian kid who goes around saying "I am an Indian Princess, in a pr-e-t-t-y sarri", with the right inflection on the t's in pretty. I was thrilled to see her some months ago on Nick Jr.

Yes, I am the bad Mom, who not only has cable but also watches television as in Nick Jr. with her kids. A couple years back, I thought Nickelodeon was the root to all evil, had no cable, only allowed the singleton kiddo to watch PBS kids. Two years and one more kid later, I have changed. I Love Moose A. Moose and wait for their summer song.

But the pros and cons of Nick Jr. will be debated later, today it is about Maya. Hers is not a show, hers is just a filler in between the regular shows (and she is been around since 2005, only I didn't know). It is about this little Indian girl who goes around trying to drape a sari and be a princess until her Mom comes and helps her out. Why does that thrill me so ? Umm, maybe because a brown Indian cartoon girl who looks just like any little non-cartoon girl is on mainstream cartoon TV. Yeah that is how I gauge Equal Opportunity( or is it Affirmative Action) these days, by who is on cartoon TV even if they are sharing the spot with a Moose.

By Kavita Ramchandran

Watch the clip if you haven't already. BS freaks out if I ask her to wear a sari, she will wear a salwar kamiz, a lehenga but not a sari, but then everyone is not BS.There are kids like Maya who will want to drape everything on them and pretend being a princess or being a teacher like BS's mom used to do eons ago.

When I saw the Murghi Ka Salan at Mona's and then Shayma's two things happened (1) it made me immensely hungry (2) it very much reminded me of Murgi'r Jhol. The Murgi'r Jhol was another Sunday lunch thing like the Patha'r Mangsho.

As the Bengali got more heart healthy, they gradually moved from their Sunday goat meat lunches to chicken. In those times chicken did not feature prolifically in the Bong menu, non-veg meant more of fish and chicken or mutton was usually once a week affair. The Sunday Murgi'r Jhol was the basic simple jhol with onion, ginger, garlic and garam masala. They would not have cashew paste or mint or any such brou-ha-ha. It was a simplistic chicken curry and could be be looking red and rich one day due to use of more oil and red chili powder or pale and yellowy on another Sunday when the frying and bhuno-ing was less. Both ways it tasted great. It would be served with white rice, dal, a bhaja and a salad of onion-cucumber-tomato.

So I made Murgi'r Jhol but adapted all extra things that Murgi ka Salan required which meant whole peppercorns and lots of chili powder. I also fried the onions golden and then made a paste of them as I think that gives a wonderful flavor to the dish. As the chicken cooked on the stove, last Saturday, I could feel the happy smell permeating the walls and spreading through my home. I had a hunch, this would be the chicken curry which makes you want to smell your fingers long after lunch. And when I served this delicious dish as Murghi ka Salan , because that sounds oh so much more poetic than Murgi'r Jhol, D rolled his eyes(ok not rolled, because he can't do the rolling right), and said "Eta to amader Murgi'r Jhol"(This is our Murgi'r Jhol).

Inspiration: Murghi ka Salan @Zaiqa, Murghi ka Salan @The Spice Spoon and my Mom

Murghi Ka Salan ~ Murgir Jhol

Serves about 5-6 grown ups

 What You Need

Chicken-- skinned and cut into medium size pieces, mine had bones.
About 2&1/2-3lb of chicken

For marinade:
2 tbsp of lime juice,
1 tsp of garlic paste,
1 tsp of ginger paste,
salt,
turmeric powder

Red Onion ~ 3 cups of chopped onion
Garlic ~ 7-8 fat cloves of garlic
Ginger ~ 2" knob of ginger
Tomato ~ 3 peeled and canned tomatoes. Instead use 2-3 juicy tomatoes finely chopped

Elaichi/Cardamom ~ 5
Laung/Cloves ~ 5
Dalchini/Cinnamon ~ 1&1/2" thin stick
Whole Pepercorns ~ 10-15

Roasted Coriander Powder ~ 2 tsp. (Dry roast corriander seeds and grind to a powder. You can store it for later use)
Red Chili Powder ~ 1-1&1/2 tsp
Salt ~ to taste
Water ~ 1-2 cup
Lime zest ~ 1/4 tsp

Corriander Leaves ~ a handful of chopped leaves
Oil ~ for cooking. I use White Oil like Canola for this dish. Do not scrimp on the oil and you will need about 5-6tbsp of it at the least. Think of this like, you will make this once in two weeks and so it is ok to indulge. Also this 5tbsp will be distributed among 5 adults, so it is only 1tbsp per adult  

How I Did It  

Prep Marinade the chicken pieces for an hour with  
2 tbsp of lime juice,  
1 tsp of garlic paste,  
1 tsp of ginger paste,  
salt,  
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder  

Start Cooking

Heat White Oil in a deep heavy bottomed pan.

Add 3 cups of roughly chopped red onion and fry till the onions turn deep maroon & golden with deep brown edges.

Add about 7-8 cloves of chopped garlic and a 2" knob of ginger peeled and chopped. Saute for a couple more minutes till they caramelize. Cool and then grind onion+garlic+ginger to a fine smooth paste with aid of little water.

Heat some more White oil for cooking in the same pan.

Temper the oil with
5 whole Cardamom  
5 Clove  
1&1/2"stick of cinnamon  
10-15 whole peppercorns

Add the onion+garlic+ginger paste from the blender and fry for a minute Add about 3 whole peeled tomatoes from a can or 2 medium juicy tomatoes chopped fine. Fry till the tomato is mushed up and you see the oil separating from the edges

Add 2 tsp of Roasted Coriander powder and 1-2 tsp of Red Chili Powder. If you want add a pinch of turmeric. Fry the spices with a sprinkle of water for 2-3 minutes.Note: When I am making this, I will add red chili powder only towards the end, after taking out a serving for the 6 year old.
 

Add the chicken pieces shaking off any excess liquid and fry the chicken pieces till they are well coated with the masala. Let it cook uncovered for the next 15-20 mins or so, with frequent stirring. This process is actually called "bhuno" in Hindi or "kashano" in Bengali. At the end of this process you will see the oil separating , that indicates good things are in the making.

When you see the chicken pieces takes on a golden coloring and the oil separating from the masala, add about 1-2 cups of warm water, mix everything well, add salt to taste and cook covered at medium-low heat till chicken is done. You should let the gravy simmer till you see a thin layer of oil floating on the top.

Add about 1/4 tsp of lime zest or a lime leaf if you have one, couple of minutes before you turn off the heat. This really lends a beautiful flavor to the rich curry. Garnish with loads of chopped corriander leaves