Chicken Rezala Recipe (Bengali Style)
Bengali Style Chicken Rezala is a rich, creamy Mughlai curry made with chicken, yogurt, cashews, poppy seeds, and whole spices. Make it at home using my easy recipe.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
To Marinate The Chicken
- 1 kilogram skinless bone-in chicken cut into 1 and ½ inch pieces, or 500 g boneless chicken thighs (cut into 1 and ½ inch pieces)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- ½ cup plain yogurt (dahi, curd) whisked
To Make The Paste
- 10-12 cashew nuts (kaju)
- 2 tablespoons white poppy seeds (posta dana)
- 4-5 green chilies stalks removed
For The Curry
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 tablespoons ghee divided
- 3-4 cloves (laung)
- 6-8 whole black peppercorns (kali mirch)
- 2 inch piece of cinnamon stick (dalchini)
- 2 whole green cardamoms (hari elaichi)
- 2 whole black cardamoms (badi elaichi)
- 4-5 whole dry red chilies
- 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
- 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ cup onion paste
- 2-3 drops Kewra essence
- 1 pinch saffron soaked in 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Marinate The Chicken
- Mix chicken, ginger garlic paste, and yogurt in a bowl and marinate for an hour.
Make Poppy Seed Paste
- Soak cashew nuts and poppy seeds in 2 tablespoons of warm water each for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the soaked cashew nuts and poppy seeds to a blender along with the water they were soaked in.
- Add green chilies to the blender and blend to make a smooth paste.
Make Chicken Rezala Curry
- Heat 3 tablespoons of ghee and oil in a pan over medium-high heat.
- When the ghee is hot, add cloves, black peppercorns, cinnamon, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, and dry red chilies to the pan and saute for 10-15 seconds.
- Pick chicken pieces from the marinade and add them to the pan. Fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the remaining marinade, cashew nut and poppy seeds paste, white pepper powder, salt, and garam masala powder to the pan and mix well.
- Add onion paste and 1 cup of water to the pan and mix well.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked well.
- Stir a few times while cooking.
- Finally, add 1 tablespoon ghee and kewra essence and mix well.
- Check for salt and add more if required.
- Garnish with saffron soaked in milk and serve!
Video
Notes
If you are not a bone-in chicken person, then you can use chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces.
If poppy seeds are unavailable, skip them in the recipe or replace them with melon seeds.
To make onion paste, blend a medium, peeled onion with 3-4 tablespoons of water until smooth.
Do not replace white pepper powder with black pepper powder, as it will darken the curry.
Kewra essence has a very strong flavor. Do not use more than 2-3 drops; otherwise, it may make the curry bitter.
Saffron is optional, but it adds a rich, delicious aroma and flavor to the chicken rezala curry, so I highly recommend it.
Nutrition
Calories: 363kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 176mg | Sodium: 1465mg | Potassium: 489mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 2mg
