Kolkata Style Chicken Bharta

Name: Chicken Bharta
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: North Indian
Ingredients: Chicken, bone-in/boneless pieces 500 grams; Bay leaf 2 large; Cinnamon stick 1; Green & black cardamom pods 2 each, crushed; Cloves 3 to 4, crushed; Javetry 1 whole flower; Salt 1/2 teaspoon; Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon; Vegetable oil 4 tablespoons; Ghee 1 tablespoon; Onion 2 large, finely sliced; Tomato 1 large, chopped; Roasted cumin powder 1tablespoon; Roasted coriander powder 1 tablespoon; Roasted red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon or to taste; Salt to taste; Sugar 1 teaspoon or to taste; Garam masala powder 1/2 teaspoon; Kasoori Methi 1 tablespoon, crushed; Onion 1 small, chopped; Ginger 1" long piece; Garlic 6 cloves; Green chili 2 or to taste; Poppy seeds 2 teaspoons; Cashew 6 pieces; Curd 2 tablespoons; Hard boiled eggs 2, finely sliced; Fresh cream 2tablespoons; Chopped cilantro

Poultry
Jul 08, 2017
Moumita Ghosh
46 Likes

Chicken bharta is a smooth creamy type gravy with boneless shreded chicken pieces serves with any Indian bread like Roti/Phulka/Paratha/Naan/Kulcha. Chicken pieces will be like shredded and mixed with the gravy in this recipe so in every bite there should be lots of chicken with it. recipe.

This recipe is Kolkata's speciality, in Kolkata Dhabas( roadside small restaurants) serves best chicken bharta you can ever taste. Today I'm going to share this recipe, which was sent by my dearest "Dheu Di", may be almost 3 years back, while we used to stay in USA. But somehow I totally forgot about the recipe and couldn't able to make it. But after seeing my two blogger friends, Rimli & Debjani's recent post on 'Chicken Bharta', I decided to post it too. Though this recipe is little bit different from theirs. Let's not bore you guys with my writing, have a look of the

Details

Yields

6 serving(s)

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Time

Preperation
45 Minutes

Cooking
30 Minutes

Non-Vegeterian

Services

Cooking Level
Medium

Meal Type
Lunch

Cuisine
North Indian

Ingredients of Chicken Bharta

For boiling the chicken:

Chicken, bone-in/boneless pieces 500 grams
Bay leaf 2 large
Cinnamon stick 1
Green & black cardamom pods 2 each, crushed
Cloves 3 to 4, crushed
Javetry 1 whole flower
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon

For the gravy :

Vegetable oil 4 tablespoons
Ghee 1 tablespoon
Onion 2 large, finely sliced
Tomato 1 large, chopped
Roasted cumin powder 1tablespoon
Roasted coriander powder 1 tablespoon
Roasted red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
Salt to taste
Sugar 1 teaspoon or to taste
Garam masala powder 1/2 teaspoon
Kasoori Methi 1 tablespoon, crushed

For 1st masala paste:

Onion 1 small, chopped
Ginger 1" long piece
Garlic 6 cloves
Green chili 2 or to taste

For 2nd masala paste:

Poppy seeds 2 teaspoons
Cashew 6 pieces
Curd 2 tablespoons

For garnishing :

Hard boiled eggs 2, finely sliced
Fresh cream 2tablespoons
Chopped cilantro

Directions to make Chicken Bharta in steps

Steps

Let's start the recipe with preparing the chicken. Take the chicken(bone-in or boneless pieces), wash under tap water, pat dry with paper towel. Now take a pressure cooker, add chicken and all the ingredients under the heading 'For boiling the chicken', 3 cups of water and boil up to 2 whistles. Let the pressure release itself. Now take the chicken pieces out of the cooker, separate the flesh from the bone with a fork and shred the chicken flesh and keep aside for later use. Strain the chicken stock and keep aside, we'll use this water only, to make the gravy.
Now make the 1st masala paste by grinding all the ingredients under the heading of '1st masala paste' in a small grinder and keep aside in a bowl. And make the 2nd masala paste by grinding all the ingredients under the heading of '2nd masala paste'. Don't clean the grinder after making the 1st masala paste. In the same grinder make the 2nd masala paste and keep aside this too.
Take a non-stick pan, heat oil & ghee, add the sliced onion, little salt and fry till the onion becomes golden in colour. We'll not temper the oil with any whole spices, as we're going to use the chicken stock already flavoured with whole spices.
Now add the 1st masala paste in the pan and fry till the raw smell of the masala goes off completely, but on medium low heat and by sprinkling some water to prevent it from burning. Now add tomato, roasted cumin coriander chili powder, garam masala powder and mix well. Now cover the pan and keep it on low heat to make the tomato soft. It'll take 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Now open the lid and higher the heat to medium and keep stirring the mixture. Add the 2nd masala paste or the cashew poppy seeds & curd paste and again keep mixing till oil oozes from the mixture.
Now add shredded chicken pieces, sugar, salt to taste and mix everything and keep stirring for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock which we reserved earlier, and cover the pan, boil the gravy on medium low heat for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, uncover the pan & sprinkle kasoori methi, fresh cream, sliced egg and mix with the gravy gently. Now the texture of the gravy will be smooth & silky.
Just check the salt, add some if needed, sprinkle chopped cilantro, little fresh cream and few slices of boiled egg and serve hot with any Indian bread.
Enjoy the 'Kolkata style chicken bharta', and get back to us with your valuable feedback.