Chicken Achaari Recipe

Chicken Achaari is a delicious Mughlai dish with an Indian flavor , it tastes a little spicy and give a pickle feel . It has that raw texture and is not creamy at all . In fact the spices used in this recipe are whole spices grounded and then added to give that perfect and balanced taste . Here is my recipe of Chicken Achaari ....!

Ingredients :

1 kg chicken with bones 
2 tomatoes finely chopped without skin 
4-5 dry red chilllies whole 
1 tsp coriander powder 
1 tsp red chilly powder 
1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
1 tsp cumin seeds 
1 tsp aniseed  / fennel seeds ( sauf ) 
1 tsp fenugreek seeds 
1 tsp mustard seeds 
1 tsp onion seeds ( kalonji ) 
1 cup curd 
4 tbsp ginger garlic 
3 onions finely chopped 
1 tsp lime  lemon juice 
4-5 whole light green chillies 
cooking oil 
salt 

Method :

1. Grind red chillies , fenugreek seeds , mustard seeds , cumin seeds , fennel seeds and onion seeds coarsely .
2. Mix them with  turmeric powder and salt together in a bowl. Take out about 3 tbsp in another small bowl and mix with the lime juice .
3. Wash, pat dry and slit the green chillies and remove the seeds . Fill the chillies with the spice and lime juice mix and keep aside .
4. In a non stick pan , add 1 tbsp oil and place all the green chillies filled with spices . Fry the chillies for few seconds , flip and fry the other side too . Transfer the chillies into another dish and keep side . ( you can skip this step , just fill the chillies with spices and keep aside )
5. Squeeze all the water from chicken add the remaining spice mix , 1-2 tbsp oil , 2tbsp ginger garlic paste and salt as desired and marinate it for an hour .
6. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions till golden brown , add remaining ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears .
7. Add tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes become soft .
8.  Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and fry for few minutes . 
9. Add yoghurt , mix well and fry for about 4-5 minutes more .
10. Now add the chicken and fry on low flame till chicken is done .
11. Now add filled green chillies and simmer it for 5-10 minutes .
12. Serve with hot Chapati roti / parantha . { Recipe by Zulekha Arafat }

NOTE : 

• If you do not want spicy , then add only 1/2 tsp chilly powder and less whole red chillies as per your preferences . 
• You can skip the step of frying the chilies in pan seperately , slit the green chillies  , fill the chillies with spices and keep aside .
• You can replace mutton ( lamb's meat ) with chicken , just that add the mutton with marination with 2-3 cups of water in cooker , close the lid and let it whistle like 2-3 whistles , slow down the gas and make it whistle 2-3 times more . Off the gas and check the mutton , if its almost done then continue the procedure . ( but best is when you slow cook the mutton and not add it in pressure cooker )  

NOTE : These below pics are of the time when the recipe was written , years back .

Preparation Time: 40-50 minutes
Serves 4-5 peoples