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My connection to Chittagong and that of Bangladesh is that my grandparents lived half their lives in the land. Both my parents were born and brought up in Kolkata and so we never had the chance to visit our city of origin.
Growing up, I have heard my father speaking to his sibling is Chatgaiyya bhasa (Chittagong language), but I still can’t figure out what they say :). The language may be as hard as learning Mandarin to me, but I have heard storied from my grandfather about the beautiful beaches and the picturesque countryside and I wish to visit it someday. As, for now I am happy with the rich and spicy dish this port city of Bangladesh has to offer – the morichut and of course the shutki maach.
While looking for a new chicken recipe last week, I came across this Chittagong chicken recipe. Though while growing up I have had quite a few different type of Chittagong recipes, but never had the chance to have this chicken dish – probably because of the fact that chicken was a no-no till the time my grandfather was around.
The recipe asked for marinading the chicken in roasted ground cilantro seeds and dry red chilies. While roasting the two spices, I was so overjoyed with the flavor that loomed my kitchen, that I just couldn’t wait to taste the chicken. I deviated a little from the original recipe – added a few potatoes and kept the gravy a little runny – because that’s how my man likes his Sunday chicken.
Ingredients
- 2lbs medium size chicken pieces
- 2 large potatoes, cut into half
- ½ of an onion, slivered finely
- ½ onion made to a paste
- 6 dry red chilies
- 2 tablespoon whole cilantro seeds
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 2 tablespoon garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 tablespoon cashew paste
- 4 tablespoon mustard oil
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- Salt to taste
- Warm water
Directions
- Dry roast 4 red chilies and the whole cilantro seeds; grind them in a spice grinder.
- Put the chicken in a large glass bowl, add half of the roasted spices, and 1 tablespoon garlic paste massage the chicken with it. Add half the turmeric, little salt and about 1 tablespoon of mustard oil. Cover with a plastic wrap and marinate for at least an hour or keep it in the bottom rack of the fridge overnight.
- If you have kept the chicken in the fridge, take it out well before you start cooking so that it comes down to room temperature.
- Heat oil in the wok. Add a pinch of turmeric and salt to the potatoes and fry in the oil till they turn slightly brown in a few places. Take out and keep aside.
- In the left over oil add the slivered onions and the 2 red chiles and fry till they turn light brown. Add the chicken, onion paste, turmeric, chili powder, garlic paste and stir well to mix all the spices well. Season with salt.
- Let the chicken cook over high flame, till the spices turn darker in color. Keep stirring so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Pour about 2 cups of warm water to the chicken, and add the fried potatoes. Cook covered till the chicken is cooked and potatoes are soft. Add the cashew paste and cook for a minute.
- Sprinkle the extra dry ground spices and garam masala. Serve with roti or rice.
Hot Tips – Don’t worry about the heat from the chilies, it is much reduced by the cashew paste and also by using the Kashmiri red chili powder, the color turns good and the heat is also less.
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Hi Sudeshna
My in laws r from CHITTAGONG. So they hv retained their food habits yet. Can you pls post purely chatgain recipes. Those might help me to impress them. I am gujju but can also cook Shutki, being pure vegetarian also want to know some Niramish sabjies along with non veg recipes. Pls post some saag base recipes too.
First off Tina, kuddos to you. Being a vegetarian you cook shutki, thats just so awesome. I’ll definitely try to post more Chittagong recipes, but for now, there are quite a few saag recipes in the blog. You can try chancchra, if you find pui seeds, you can also try this or the simple spinach dal
It’s watering my mouth. Very nice.
Any tips over the overnight marinate thing? Is there any other substitute or easier way?
Hi Arghyadeep,
If you are not able to marinate it overnight thats all right, you can just marinate for an hour and that will help. Or if you just dont have that time, then mix the spices and cook as instructed.
Waooo!!! I love it.. Ranna banna ami khub ekta korte parina. khub iche onek rann sikhbo r sobai k chomke dibo… Thank you eirokom ekta wensite amader moto meye der gift deoar jonnoi… Ami onek kichu sikhechi ekhan theke..
Amar sob bondhu der o ami ei websit er kotha bolbo..
Thank you Rakhi for your kind words. It feels great to here such comments.
Aahaaaa Daru k sath khub jamega.. Hahahaha jokes apart.
It was explain so nicely n easy way that everyone can understand
and should try.. Damn sure I will also try this recipe… Comes to the indegrients it is just awesome…
If u put some curd on this it makes more delicious.
Lots of appreciation to u.
Hi,I tried this recipe last week and I must say that it was awesome. I am myself a vegetarian but my husband is non vegetarian. I made it for him and he just kept licking his fingers. Great
Was looking for some Chittagong recipes, since Chittagong Chicken with luchis at Oh Calcutta is one of my favorites. Stumbled upon your blog which seems to be a goldmine for Bengali recipes.
Thank Sabyasachi
Dear Sudeshna…
Thanks for sharing this Recipe. Last time I had this dish was in Oh!Kolkata and wanted to recreate the same at home. So am definetly gonna try this at home…
The name of the dish caught my attention 🙂
My grand parents are from chottogram, too
I am a huge fan of lotta and shutki….
darun lagche chobi dekhe…
Thanks,
Riniki
Honestly speaking, I have not seen such beautiful, authentic, genuine chicken curry in a L-O-N-G time! In love with that red hot look 🙂
Your photos look stunning, as always and yes I’ll try this recipe ASAP 🙂
Thank you Nusrat for stopping by. I try to take a few good pics 🙂
hi sudeshna…i think the name chittagong chicken sounds exotic in itself…loved the recipe..cilantro seeds maane coriander seeds ki…
Yes Kanina, cilantro and coriander seeds are the same.
Good going Gal
The recipe is absolutely yummy! I am definitely going to try it out this Sunday!
Just one question, pardon me, but is there no garlic used at all in this prep? Why I ask is because I am a little finicky about that smell which chicken or egg or fish emanates, unless the right quantity of ginger or garlic are used and I haven’t cooked chicken without garlic to date.
Priyanka, the recipe require garlic and I have used about 2 tablespoons of garlic paste. If you are asking about ginger, its because the smell of ginger will subdue the flavor of the roasted spices. But, if you wish you can definitely use some ginger paste to the marinade or even while cooking.
I apologize, wonder why I read it as ginger in the recipe. But thank you so much for your suggestion. Much appreciated.