Kaju Posto Murgi (Chicken in cashew nuts and poppy seeds paste)

Firstly, I am extremely sorry for not being able to post regularly. Thanks to the severe stress that we research scholars have to bear. Trust me academia is no less than the industry or the corporate as you may like to tag it. We too have our own share of issues and get pretty much the same (if not more) workload like our industry counterparts. So I can attribute the delayed post to this I believe. Well, I will not rant about it anymore, as I am back with one super tasty recipe which is not a staple in Bengali households, but definitely a treat during some special occasions. 

As you can see in the heading of this post, its a non vegetarian special that I would be talking about. I have not seen this dish anywhere in the country in any hotels or restaurants. Also, not many Bengali households will cook it. It is a very special dish and I really do not know the origin. I can make a wild guess if I am allowed to do so. Posto, or poppy seeds as we call it, is a ghoti (the people from West Bengal are known as ghoti and the ones from East Bengal are bangals) favourite, as we consume it in the form of aloo posto (potatoes cooked in poppy seeds paste) or potol posto (pointed gourd cooked in poppy seeds paste) or jhinge posto (ridge gourd cooked in poppy seeds paste) or posto bata (a paste of posto with mustard oil, chopped onions and salt, which is essentially consumed raw) or posto-r bora (fritters made with poppy seeds paste). Kaju or cashew nuts are not that popular in a Bengali kitchen, and we used it in only few things like mishti polao (pilaf, a Bengali version which is slightly sweet in taste) or payesh (rice pudding) and chholar dal (chana dal cooked in a Bengali way). It is rather used in the Mughlai style cooking, and Kolkata has its own share of Lucknow style nawabi gharana khana (all thanks to the descendants of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow, who are the residents of Kolkata even till this date!). So it is possible that some enthusiastic cook was experimenting in the kitchen one fine day with a mood to have something fusion, and invented it. Or it may be that this dish is churned out of someone's kitchen because of one of the famous words which is widely used in the scientific community, serendipity! Please let me know what you think about my assumptions. 😎😎 Or, just in case you know the real story behind this dish, please feel free to enlighten me and my audience about the same. It is a great thing to learn you see! 😀😀 I learnt this recipe for the first time from one of my mother's colleagues, when I was in class 8 or 9 most likely. He made us eat kaju posto murgi at his place and I asked him for the recipe. Today, as kaku (uncle) is no more, I am still indebted to him for giving his secret recipe to me, and it has become one of my most cherished dishes!🙏

So it was a special day this month, as I turned one year younger, I decided to cook something different and special for our lunch. This was apart from the usual spread we Bengalis have at home with rice, dal, five different types of fries, mandatory fish gravy, and curd/ sweets. Usually chicken is not the preferred thing in the households on any auspicious day/ event; but I wanted to have it, and hence that was an added item for the day. Another reason was that we had some broken cashew nuts left and I did not want to eat soaked cashew nuts or put them in my smoothies, hence got a reason to use them. Without making you all wait for too long, and bearing with me and my stories; I will put the recipe below for you all to try at home. Please do let me know in the comments about your trials, and how it tasted. Feel free to give me any suggestion so that I can also learn. 😊

Ingredients: 

Chicken - 500 gms (cut, washed, and pat dried) 

Cashew nuts - 100 gms (soaked in water) 

Poppy seeds - 50 gms (soaked in water) 

Onion paste - 2 small 

Ginger-garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon 

Tomato puree - 1 small 

Green chillies paste - 4-5 (or as per taste) 

Salt - as required 

Sugar - 1 teaspoon (or as required) 

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon 

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon 

Cardamom (whole) - 4 (crushed) 

Cinnamon (whole) - 1 (crushed) 

Cloves (whole) - 4 (crushed) 

Black pepper corns - 4 (crushed) 

Mustard oil - 100 ml (you can take less if you want) 

Water - 100-150ml (or as required) 

Procedure: 

Firstly marinate the chicken pieces with ginger-garlic paste and onion paste. Cover it and leave it for an hour or so. In the meantime, make a paste out of the green chillies, soaked poppy seeds and cashew nuts in a blender jar. You can use the traditional shil-batta too. Make the puree of one small tomato and keep it aside. Once the marination is complete, add oil in the kadhai/ wok and let it heat. Temper the oil with crushed cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper corns, and let it splutter. Then add the marinated chicken pieces to it and fry on a high heat till the color of the chicken pieces change. Now add the remaining marinate from the pot in the kadhai and cook on medium for some time. Add some salt and keep stirring it and let it cook till the raw smell is not there any more. Now add the tomato puree and mix it continuously by stirring vigorously. Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder to it and give it a nice mix. Make sure the rawness of the tomato puree does not remain and it gets mixed well with the chicken. Add sugar to balance the tangy taste of the tomato puree; and please do not skip this step😊. This actually enhances the flavour of the dish and creates the perfect balance you would need. If you see the masala is sticking, sprinkle some water and again mix it, and let it cook. This process is known as koshano in Bengali and by doing this, your masala won't get burnt, and you can slow cook it for getting the best taste. The next step is to add the poppy seeds and cashew nuts paste to it and mixing very well, so that it gets coated on the chicken pieces properly. Check for the flame, it should be low while you add the paste of poppy seeds and cashew nuts. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes and you will find that the oil is separating gradually. Now, add water slowly to it, and mix it nicely. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium flame. Remove the lid and check for the seasonings, and adjust accordingly. This dish will not have a runny gravy unlike the basic chicken curry we Bengalis are used to consume. It is a thick gravy which is savoured with rice/ luchi (Bengali style puffed bread made using maida or refined flour)/ paratha or even ruti (different type of Indian flatbreads). You can see in the photo, how it should exactly look. Having said that, switch off the flame when the gravy reaches that stage. The famous kaju posto murgi is ready to be served. Ideally one should have it with steamed rice. But it also tastes great with the various types of flatbreads of Indian cuisine, besides luchi, which makes a fantastic pair-up with kaju posto murgi. 😇 😇