Easy Yogurt chicken

My sister always says, Didi posts something simple, easy, but yummy! She neither has patience to be at kitchen for long time, nor has enough time. Today’s recipe is for her and for those people who love their family and want to present something new and delicious every day, but don’t want to spend much effort. :-)

This one is very easy and fast chicken preparation with minimum ingredients. I learnt this dish in my initial days of experiments with cooking and it’s the second chicken recipe that I learnt after the regular chicken curry. The main ingredients are yogurt and garlic other than chicken, flavored with dry fenugreek seeds, and seasoned with salt and red chili powder. The dish is simply awesome, with minimum gravy and chicken pieces would get a nice coat of oily yogurt sauce. When you are done with cooking, oil comes out from all sides of the pan, which is the special attraction and goes well with some rice :)

I don't know what to name this dish; it can be called yogurt chicken or garlic chicken, because either of them is a key ingredient of this dish! It can also be called Korma Chicken, as the chicken is cooked in yogurt sauce. But what is there in the name, anyway it would be the most popular dish at your home.

Recipe of Easy Yogurt Chicken : ( Serves - 4 )

Ingredients :

Boneless Chicken pieces ( medium sized) - 1 and 1/2 lb (around 700 g) 
yogurt - 1/2 cup
Garlic paste -  2 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds (Methi dana) - 1 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp or as per the taste
Dry Red chili - 1
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
Oil - 2-3 tbsp
Salt- 

Method :

1. Wash the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towel. Add salt and red chili powder, mix them well. and let it rest for half an hour. Then add the yogurt and 2 tbsp of garlic paste.

2. Mix it well with the chicken pieces, and again leave it for marination for minimum 2 hrs.

3. Take a big pan, add oil and heat it up. Once oil is ready, add fenugreek seeds. When it gets aromatic, discard them from the oil. Add cinnamon stick and the dry red chili. Once it starts to spatter, add 1 tbsp garlic paste, saute it till it changes color to light brown. Lower the flame and add the marinated chicken.

4. Give some stirs, mix it well and cover it with lid. The chicken will release some water, and it will be cooked by its own water. In between check it occasionally, stir it well and cover it again, until chicken pieces are soft and tender.

5. Once Chicken is almost cooked, open the lid, and stir it and let it cook for 4 to 5 minutes more. Once water is completely evaporated and chicken pieces get a nice coat of gravy and oil starts to come out from all the sides of pan, check the seasoning, and desired consistency. Turn off the gas and serve hot with rice or any kind of bread.

Note: when you will add chicken to the pan, you should be careful that pan is not too hot and the chicken is at room temperature, to stop the yogurt from curdling. Add half tsp of flour or a pinch of cornflour to the yogurt, it also helps to avoid curdling. 

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