Feel Like Breathing Out Smoke From You Ears This Winter? Kombdi Cha Rassa

Winter is the time to breathe out smoke, isn't it? In this chilly air, all you need is a spicy chicken curry to fire up your system. What better spicy curry than the fiery Kolhapur Style Hot Chicken Curry? So, steam some and fetch some water. This curry can even make your nose water.

Kombdi Cha Rassa (Spicy Brown Chicken Curry)

This is a spicy Maharashtrian chicken curry made with dried coconut and onion. Curry-cut pieces of chicken are cooked in a thin brown, runny curry called Rassa. Kombdi is the Marathi word for chicken. Kombdi cha Rassa is best enjoyed with soft, warm chapattis or steamed rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Chicken (Murgi), cut into medium size curry pieces 1 kg

Salt (namak) to taste

Lemon (Neeboo ka ras), Juice ¼ cup

Ginger- Garlic (adrak-lehsun) Paste 1 tbspn.

Turmeric (haldi) 1 tspn.

Red Chilli pwd. (Lal mirch pwd. ) 1 tspn.

Oil (tel)4 tbspn.

Onion(Pyaz), sliced 1 ½ cup

Garlic (Lehsun), peeled 8 cloves

Ginger (Adrak), peeled 1 inch

Green chilli(Hari Mirch) 3

Dried Coconut (Sukha Nariyal) ¼ cup

Coriander seeds (Sabut Dhaniya) 4 tbspn

Cloves (lavang) 5

Peppercorn (KaliMirch) 4

Cinnamon (Dal Chini) ½ inch

Dagadphool 2 tbspn

Dried Red Chilli (Sukhi lal mirch)  2

Sesame (Til) 2 tbspn

Method:

In a bowl mix salt, lemon juice, turmeric, ginger garlic paste and red chilli powder. Marinate the chicken pieces in this mixture and set aside.

Sprinkle salt on the sliced onion and squeeze out the moisture. Heat oil in a pan and roast the onion until they are brown. The colour of the onion determines the dark brown colour of the kombdi cha rassa so make sure the colour is deep but be sure not to burn the onions by evenly slicing. Set the brown onion aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add coriander seeds, pieces of dried coconut, cloves, peppercorn, cinnamon, dagadphool, sesame, ginger, garlic, green chilli and dried red chilli. Roast this masala together for 3-4 minutes on medium heat until becomes a darker shade. Grind this mixture into a thick paste.

Heat oil in a pan, add in the paste and cook on medium heat. Allow the mixture to leave the sides of the pan. Add in the chicken and the marinade. Allow the chicken to cook in masala for five minutes on low heat.

Note: While adding the chicken pieces to the curry, add in the leg pieces, neck pieces and other bony pieces first. Add in the bigger, fleshy pieces second and add in the small fleshy pieces in the end, five minutes before turning the heat off. This will allow the chicken pieces to cook evenly.

Add in 2 cups of water to the chicken curry. Check the curry for salt and cook the curry on low heat for 15-20 minutes till the chicken comes easily off the bone.

The consistency of the curry should be thin. Serve the Kombdi cha Rassa with warm chapattis or steamed rice.