Tags
Bay leaf, Bengali food, black peppercorns, cardamoms, Chicken, chicken curry, cloves, food, panch phoran
Panch Phoran literally translates into five spices and the blend consists of the following: cumin, fennel, onion, fenugreek and mustard seeds. This is a very common blend that gives a lovely flavor and aroma while cooking and is frequently used in Bangladeshi cuisine. The recipe that follows is almost like a Rogan Josh recipe, but does not have some of the Rogan josh ingredients as I have used the panch phoran! This blend is usually found in most local Indian shops and is sold in just one packet and is not expensive to purchase either! I know the recipe has a lot of chilies, but just use what you feel comfortable with, but just remember at the end we add the yogurt which makes it milder! This chicken is one of my husband’s favourite recipes so Hope you enjoy it too! 🙂
Panch Phoran :Cumin, fenugreek, fennel, mustard and nigella seeds
Ingredients
8 Chicken Thighs
1 Tbsp Panch Foran
5-6 Cloves
2-3 Bay leaves
4-5 Cardamoms
5-6 Black peppercorns
2-3 Green chilies
2 Onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Ginger, minced
1 Tsp Red Chili Flakes
1/2 Tsp Red chilli powder
1 Tsp Garam masala powder
3 Tbsp Yoghurt
Method
Heat some oil or ghee in a karahi or in a pot big enough to fit the 8 chicken thighs.
Now add the panch phoran mixture and let it sputter for a minute, please don’t let it sit and burn as it will get bitter.
Now add cloves, cardamoms, bay leaves, black peppercorns, green chilis, chili flakes and onions and sauté till the onions are well browned.
Add ginger-garlic paste, and mix well. Cook for a further a few minutes.
Take the mixture out of the pot and let it cool, then put it in a food processor with half a cup of water so that it becomes a thick curry paste.
While the paste cools, chop each chicken thigh into two pieces.
Then add the chicken pieces to the pot and brown on both sides. While browning add the garam masalas and the red chili powder.
Since adding the spices with the chicken you will see a thin sauce forming in the pot. So the chicken needs to be tossed in this for about 10 minutes.
When the chicken has browned add in the prepared paste from the food processor.
Mix well to coat the chicken. Stir intermittently and cook this for another 10-15 minutes.
Then add the yogurt and simmer by covering with the lid, for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Serve with steamed rice or paratha.
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Yummy food made easy 
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
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Thank you Jueseppi you are my biggest fan and the best promoter!! 🙂
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I had some remaining Panch Phoran from another recipe and I love curries so I made this for dinner last night. It was very good and flavorful, rich and deep. I have a few questions and comments about the recipe the way it is written, though.
Ingredients
2-3 Green chiles. I am from California and “green chiles” is very generic. Green chiles can mean any of Poblano (not likely), New Mexico, Pasilla, Serrano, Jalapeño, etc. Personally I used Jalapeño’s. It is also not mentioned how to prep the chiles. Not knowing the heat content of the recipe, I seeded and finely diced them. The recipe was delicious how I made it, but next time I’ll keep the seeds in for more heat.
2 Onions, thinly sliced. The photos show more of an onion roughly chopped than thinly sliced. I don’t think this matters much, though, as it’s all thrown in the food processor afterward.
Method
The first step is to heat “some” oil or ghee. Some? How much? This can make a bit of a difference in a two-step recipe like this. I used about 3 tbsp ghee at this point.
Next it says to “sauté till the onions are well browned.” The photos, though, show more of a light translucence. I cooked mine to well browned and I believe that contributed to my curry being much darker than the photos.
The amount of water added to the food processor appears to be a little more than half a cup. My paste ended a little thicker than the photos.
“Then add the chicken pieces to the pot and brown on both sides.” What is supposed to be in the pot at this point? In the previous step the entire contents of the pot are transferred to a food processor, so I had nothing left to cook the chicken in. Here, I added about 3 tbsp ghee again to brown the chicken. The photos, though, show a large amount of sauce that I didn’t have (just a richly seasoned oil), so I think there is something missing in the description about how to achieve this. My curry ended up much thicker and pastier than the photos, but was still very tasty.
All-in-all, a great curry, and I look forward to making it again. I like heat so I’m adding more next time. This should take it from great to wow!
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Hi Matt, its good to know that people do try out my recipes and its my pleasure to help you out with your questions. As you know I am from originally from Bangladesh so we just call them green chilies, but over here in North America, the chilies I am referring to are called Thai bird chili or just Thai chilies, they are much hotter than jalapenos, and definitely adding the seeds makes it hotter, and I always do add the seeds. As for the onions, I slice them first as thin as possible, sometimes I am in a rush they come out more thicker than I am aiming for, so I write thinly sliced so that you know that is the proper thing to do when you start the onions! 🙂
I believe everyone should judge for themselves how much oil they want to put in their food, so I use some as my description and don’t add it as part of my ingredients, you will notice I do this for all my recipes. If I had to put a measurement on how much I put in, I would add 1 Tbsp of oil or ghee at this point, but mind you the more ghee you add the better it tastes though! You know everything bad for us tastes good! 🙂
As for sautéing the onions till they are well browned, I am glad you browned them first because that’s what needs to be done. My onions were browned before I added it to the food processor, I sometimes don’t take pictures at all stages, I just snap them as I go along and add description so that people know the correct way of doing it. I want people to have perfect outcomes, I sometimes do slip up but I know it will turn out fine because I have made so many curries in my life! 🙂
You are absolutely right to add the ghee to the pot before adding the chicken, because that is what helps it get nice and brown, I did omit this point from my description. As per my description, while you brown the chicken you had to add the garam masala and the red chile powder. The spices and the juice from the chicken will form the sauce at this stage. Then you add the prepared paste to the mixture, and if it looks too thick I sometimes add some more water. As for the pictures being light, I usually take the pictures in a light friendly place so they look appetizing on the blog! Hope this helps! 🙂
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Thanks so much for your reply! Yes, Thai chiles, I considered that and it’s actually what I was thinking of when I wrote “etc.” 😉 I have to find them at specialty markets (while Jalapeños and Serranos are at the market across the street), but I have some in my freezer that I will try next time (with seeds!). I only used half the chicken since I was only making this for myself, so that it probably why I had less juice. My garam masala recipe is quite dark, so that certainly contributed to the difference in color. I also only had about 5-6 tbsp ghee left, so I just split it between the two…nice and rich! Thanks, again, I look forward to the next time making this!
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That looks good and your pictures are wonderful! ❤
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Thank you! 🙂
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