Sunehera chicken...

Friday evenings are usually time to relax and unwind for me and my family. The fact that you do not need to set the alarm clocks for next morning is such a relief. I guess it is the same for everyone too.

Unwinding to me is  usually either putting my feet up and getting lost in books or fiddling around in the kitchen to try to put together something special for me and my family. This Friday, it was a chicken curry with some homemade naan bread.

I didn't follow any particular recipe while making this dish, just went along with my instinct. The chicken was marinated for 9 hrs in the refrigerator. The marination I used was a basic one, just onion, garlic, ginger, yogurt mix. To bring in a nice color and flavor I added few strands of saffron.

While marinating the chicken I wasn't really sure about the gravy but wanted something creamy that can go along the naan I was planning to serve it with. My little one really liked the end result- soft and succulent chicken in a lightly sweet  creamy golden curry.

I didn't even think of posting this recipe, but the little one in my house as well as the man insisted that I must post this recipe as it tasted so good. And since this wasn't very planned, I ended up with only a single image for the final dish. Because of the beautiful creamy texture and golden color I named the dish 'Sunehera' chicken, sunehera means golden in Hindi. You can try this at home and let me know whether the name justifies the dish.

Things needed to make Sunehera Chicken:

• Chicken: 500 gm

For marination:

• Lime juice: 1 tbsp
• Salt: 2 tsp
• Black pepper powder: 1 tsp
• Yogurt: 1/2 cup
• Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
• Garlic paste: 1 tbsp
• Onion paste: 3 tbsp
• Kashmiri red chili powder: 1 tsp
• Saffron: few strands

For gravy:

• Thinly sliced onion: 2 cups
• Cinnamon stick: 1 stick
• Green cardamom: 3-4
• Dry red chili: 3-4
• Coriander powder: 2 tsp
• Red chili powder: 3 tsp
• Green cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon powder: 1/2 tsp
• Almond paste: 3 tbsp
• Poppy paste: 2 tbsp
• Saffron (soaked in warm water): few strands
• Salt to taste
• Honey to taste
• Oil and ghee to cook

Steps of making Sunehera Chicken:

1. Clean and wash the chicken pieces. I used chicken with bone, can be done with boneless chicken pieces too. Pat dry with kitchen towel. In a bowl mix all the ingredients for marination, marinate the chicken pieces for minimum 2 hrs, better if marinated overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Slice onion as thin as possible, heat oil in a kadhai (Indian wok), when the oil is hot fry the onion slices to brown. Drain excess oil and transfer in a bowl.

3. In a kadhai or pan add ghee, when hot add cinnamon stick, whole green cardamom, dry red chili, cook for 1 min. Add the fried onion. Keep a few to garnish.

4. Shake off the excess marination and add the chicken, cook over high heat for 4-5 min. As the chicken changes color, add the remaining marinade and coriander powder, red chili powder, mix well. Cover and cook over medium flame till oil separates. Add  cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, mix well. If needed add salt.

5. Add a little hot water and let it boil. Reduce the flame to low, add almond paste and poppy seed paste, mix well. Cover and cook for 10 min. Add honey, saffron soaked water, mix well. transfer into a serving bowl, garnish with fried onion and slivered almonds. Serve with some naan or roti.

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