While mom made it with mustard oil, my version is a little lighter while sticking to the authentic taste.
What you need to prep up for this dish:
1. 1.5 lbs of chicken drumstick
2. Two medium sized onions - chopped
3. Two medium tomatoes
4. Cilantro - finely chopped
5. Garlic paste
6. Ginger paste
7. Salt to taste
8. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder
10.Red chilli powder
11.Vegetable oil - 2 tbsl
The actuals:
In a non stick pan, add two tbsp of vegetable oil. Once it is heated, add the chopped onions, garlic paste and the chopped cilantro. Add some salt to taste and stir till the onions become translucent. My mom always told me that all bengali dishes have some sugar added to it if you add salt to it. So since she is seldom wrong, I follow her advice on this one even though I am not a huge fan of adding sugar to my food. So yes, add half a teaspoon of sugar and see the onions slowly turn brown and leave out the oil it absorbed to get fried.
Once the onions start to leave off the oil, add chopped tomatoes to it and let it cook till the tomatoes become soft. Add 1tsp of turmeric powder and 2 tsp of red chilli powder (or more, if you would like it spicier). Cover it with a lid and let it cook for some more time.
Add the properly cleaned chicken drumsticks to the curry paste and stir. Keep mixing the paste and the chicken for a while and then cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook with an occasional stirring. Do not add any water, and let the chicken cook in its own steam. Let it cook for 20 mins or till the chicken pieces have absorbed the curry paste and have become soft.
Remove the lid, serve with indian chapathis or rice.
