Chicken Ghee Roast



Memories is what keeps many people going on in their day to day life. Some keep their memories in the form of images, some write it down and some just keep it in their heart. As we all are going through a tough situation these days thanks to COVID_19 and like many, I also have been spending a lot of time at home, cooking, cleaning, and doing other chores. 

A few days back, (I am sure it been almost 3 weeks), while I was cleaning and arranging my bookshelf (which is filled with only cookbooks), I came across my journal from my hospitality college days. It was a book that we all students had to maintain throughout the year writing down all the recipes that we used to make during our practical sessions. One such recipe was off the Chicken Ghee Roast. I can't say that it is authentic or the best recipe out there but making this dish after ages bought back some memories of me cooking it in college. Easily about eight to nine years back. 

Recently when I made it again, I did make a few changes in the quantity and also the consistency of the dish so that everyone at home could have it and eat it. 

Without wasting much reading time, below is the list of ingredients and procedure to make it. Again. this may not be the best recipe or the most authentic one but this was the one which we were taught back in our college days. 

Ingredients - 

Dried Red Chillies - 3 to 4 whole
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
Black Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2 to 3 pcs
Garlic Cloves - 4 to 5 pcs
Ginger - 1/2 inch pc
Taramind - 20 gms
Red Chilli Powder
Yogurt - 60 gms
Chicken Breast Diced - 500 gms
Turmeric Powder - 5gms to 8 gms
Onions Chopped - 1 whole
Salt - To Taste
Ghee - 60 gms
Chopped Coriander Leaves - A handful

As mentioned above, the few changes that I did to the dish were as follows 
- Used less Ghee. I know it is a ghee roast and it is supposed to have ghee but grandfather was also going to eat it hence had to useless. 
- I increased the quantity of curd a bit as compared to the one which was there in my college journal as we needed some gravy to eat along with chapatis. 
- When we had cooked in college, we had used chicken drumsticks but here I went ahead with chicken breast again so that my grandfather could also eat it. 

To being the making process, please follow the images and the steps as well. 



1. In a pan, take all the spices i.e. cumin, fennel, coriander seeds, cloves, black peppercorns, dried red chillies and toast them for a couple of minutes. 


2. While the spices are getting toasted, take some tamarind and soak it in water so that it becomes soft and you can squeeze it and end up with tamarind water.


3. Take all the spices, garlic, ginger, tamarind pulp/juice and red chilli powder in a blender and blend it to a smooth paste. 



4. In a bowl, take the cubed chicken breast, yogurt, salt, turmeric and a spoon of the red chilli paste which we just made. 


5. Let the chicken marinate for sometime and in the meantime, in a pan, heat up some ghee and add some cumin to it. Once the cumin is done, add in finely chopped onions and cook it till translucent. 
Tip - Add some salt in order to speed up the cooking and breaking down of the onion. 


6. Once the onion has cooked, its time to add in the chilli paste that we made and cook it. How do you know its cooked? The ghee should start leaving the masala and it floats around the edges. 



7. Add in the marinated chicken, mix it around well, cover it with a lid and cook it for about 8-10 mins or until chicken is cooked. Garnish in the end with some chopped coriander to make it look pretty.



The recipe itself is quite simple but tastes just amazing. The main essence of the dish is in the ghee which elevates it. As the French People say, the more the butter, the better it is. The same can be applied with ghee as well as it makes the dish finger-licking good. 


With this, thats I have for you in this recipe. In case you decide to make it and decide to share it on Instagram, do tag me @Hungrybawarchi. I will be back again with another recipe. 

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