Chicken Achari
I can tell you the exact date of when I had this dish for the first time. It was Saturday October 28th, 2017 in downtown Baltimore off of the inner harbor. I was at the Days of Darkness Fest at the Ramshead with my Metal Fest traveling buddy, Brian. We ate at this Afghani/Indian restaurant right by the fest called Kabul. We both decied to try their daily special. All it said was chicken cooked in pickling spices. Little did I know that I was about to eat one of the most flavorful dishes I've ever had. It was served with a small salad, rice, and naan; all for under $10. Seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten. Hands down. Brian and I along with more people in our Metal Fest group came back to eat this dish on Saturday May 26th of 2018. Still just as good. I just ate this dish again a week ago on Saturday May 25th, 2019. Even better. I needed to know how to make this dish. So I learned the next day after my flight back from Baltimore.Achari is a Northern Indian dish, meaning cooked in pickling spices. Those pickling spices would be cumin, mustard, fennel, fenugreek, and nigella seeds. Fenugreek seeds have a bitter/savory taste. Nigella seeds add the flavor of onions and garlic. Nigella seeds are also known sometimes as black cumin. Another ingredient you might not be familiar with is ginger garlic paste. It is an equal mix of fresh ginger and garlic, pureed into a paste and is used in a lot of Indian cuisine. You can find the paste at any Asian market or make it from scratch in a food processor.There are a couple of options that you can do with the chicken. When I've eaten this at Kabul, it is served using boneless skinless chicken breast. I assume that is to better accomadate the American pallet. You can go that route if you want to. I prefer to use bone in thighs and drumsticks. There is always so much more flavor when the chicken is on the bone. You can choose to leave the pieces whole or cut them up into chunks. Cut the drumsticks into 3 pieces; the thighs 4. If you prefer to use chicken breast and wings, please do so. I would cut the breasts into 4-5 pieces; the wings in half. Either way you go, this dish will be delicious regardless. It isn't the chicken that makes this dish. It's the curry gravy.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks skinned
- 3 tbsp vegetable or mustard oil
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp nigella seeds
- 5 whole dried chilies
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 medium white onion thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp red chili powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- salt to taste
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan or dutch oven. Add in the fenugreek, cumin, mustard, nigella, and fennel seeds. Cook for no more than 2 minutes.
- Stir in the onion and dried chili.
- Cook down the onionsfor 8-10 minutes, making sure that the chilies don't burn. The onions should be brown in color.
- Add in the ginger garlic paste, followed by the tomato paste, turmeric, and chili powder. Cook for a couple of minutes until all of the oil has left the sides of the pan and have clumped the paste together.
- Add in the chicken pieces. Brown for 6-8 minutes, making sure that all of the pieces are coated in the curry paste.
- Stir in the water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.
- Uncover. Stir in the yogurt, lemon juice, and salt. Let simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes.
