Kashmiri Chicken (Ayam Kashmir)

On Monday, I was showing symptoms of flu. When I woke up in the morning, I was coughing and sneezing badly. Felt a little bit breathless too.  What made it worse was the fact that Suhaym kept waking up the night before which in turn hindered my much needed rest and sleep. I was very tired and felt slightly ill but I went to work anyway hoping that the symptoms would go away once I had taken some leftover medicine from my previous doctor visit.

I worked through the day as usual.  Of course, I had more work to do at home.  The challenges of being a wife and a mother is that there are no off days even when you are sick unless you are warded in the hospital in which case you ended up having more stress mentally worrying about your husband and children at home. I also do not like to leave the chores of cooking entirely to my kitchen-ing assistant.  She has done most of the household chores at home so I'd prefer to at least do something out of love for my family and that is cooking. I also prefer to take care of the kids and some household chores myself once I reach home from work as I believe it is time for my kitchen-ing assistant to get some rest after a whole day of work.  Of course I had the option of ordering home delivery or buying food back home when I am ill but I chose not to.  At least not until I totally cannot get out of bed. 

I made Kashmiri Chicken that night.  Sayf loves this dish and he would eat more of the chicken and the gravy than he would eat rice. This would be a favourite amongst kids as it has a light taste and non-spicy.  For those who like it hot and spicy, you have the choice of adding more chilli powder.

Ingredients:

*Note - 1 tablespoonful refers to 20ml volume

             1 spoonful refers to 10ml volume

12 - 16 pieces of chicken parts of your choice
4 tablespoons ghee (you can substitute wholly or partly with cooking oil)

1 piece bay leaf - I ran out of this so I omitted it
2 large onions - diced
2 tomatoes - diced or chopped
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
6 cardamom pods
2 star anises
2 tablespoonsful biryani powder
1 spoonful chilli powder
1 teaspoonful ground cumin
1 teaspoonful ground coriander
1 spoonful of tomato puree
2 heaping tablespoons of yogurt
1 small bowl of water
2 teaspoonsful sugar (or 2 teaspoons of Ajinamoto, if you prefer)
a small bunch of coriander leaves - about 3-4 stalks
a handful of fried shallots

(**items to be blended in a food processor with a little water into a paste)

2 large onions**
3 cm ginger**
6 garlics**

Method:

1. Heat ghee/oil in a deep based pan or pot. Once the ghee/oil is really hot, add in the cardamoms, cloves, cinnamons and star anises. Let them pop for about ten seconds.



2. Add in the diced onions. This would also be the time to add in the bay leaf.  Saute until the onions are withered or translucent.



3. Add in the blended ingredients. Saute for about two to three minutes.



4. Add in the cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and biryani powder. Saute for about another two to three minutes.



5. Add in the diced tomatoes. Saute for about ten minutes.



6. After ten minutes, once you see oil collecting in the sautéing mix just like in the picture above, add in salt to taste, sugar (or Ajinamoto, if you prefer).



7. Add water. 



8. Add tomato puree.  Stir for a minute.



9. Bring to boil.



10. Add in the chicken pieces.



11. Add in yogurt. Fold the yogurt and chicken pieces in to properly combine. Bring fire to medium. Cover your pan or pot and let cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken pieces are cooked. Give a stir every now and then.



12. After 25 minutes or after the chicken pieces are cooked, lift up cover. Do a taste check and add salt as necessary. Add in the chopped coriander leaves. Stir them in.



13. Add in the fried shallots and stir them in.



14. Off fire and serve. This dish taste even better the next day.

Serve with white rice, biryani, pilafs or white bread. Happy Kitchen-ing!!