Posto murgi, that is posto chicken, is a Bengali twist on the basic chicken curry adding extra richness which takes it to a whole new level! The creamy poppy seeds paste makes a perfect base for Indian curries!
Being a Bengali, this posto murgi should have appeared in my blog long back but I failed! I don’t know why I never tried this gem of a recipe called posto murgi which would have been the too perfect recipe for our Bengai taste buds as we are both chicken lovers as well as posto lovers!
Posto is poppy seed which is a popular ingredient in Bengali kitchen and has numerous uses, the most popular one being the aloo-posto or the potato curry with poppy seeds paste. You can say that this posto murgi is the meaty take of that vegetarian soul sister!
I will be honest with you guys, I was not aware if anything called posto murgi does actually exist in Bengali cuisine or not as I had never had it before or hadn’t seen any of my relatives making it.
I just thought of pairing the best of both worlds and see how the result fairs (And took a lot of pride in myself for being an adventurous cook!). Later I found that there are recipes of posto murgi available on net which sadly made me realize that I actually didn’t invent anything!
To talk about my culinary experiments, I feel that there are two conflicting cooks that reside inside me and they both have two completely opposite line of thinking – one who goes exactly by the book and allows no exception and another who dumps everything and goes by her own instinct.
This recipe of posto murgi is a produce of that instinctive cook inside me and here is how it materialized. On a Friday night, I marinated the chicken for a basic chicken curry to make for next day’s lunch. Till this point the copycat cook was in charge.
On the fine morning next day, the scene changed and the innate cook took over. She hates usual recipes and didn’t allow me to make the regular chicken curry.
It was when I was figuring out how to make something different, my eyes caught the bottle of poppy seeds and this idea sparked. With poppy seeds, came the melon seeds since these two make a nice base for Indian vegetarian recipes and complements each other really well.
This is how my posto murgi came into existence and I am so glad it did! This posto murgi turned out so delicious that no words will be an enough to describe it. The smooth and creamy curry base with poppy seeds paste was perfect for the lean meat and is best served with plain rice.
If you are a Bengali, I don’t need to sell this posto murgi to you as I am sure you are already tempted; if you are from other parts of the world, I would encourage you to give this Bengali delicacy called posto murgi a try and I bet you won’t regret!
- Chicken – 750 gms, cut into medium sized pieces
- Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
- Yogurt – ½ cup
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 3 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Poppy seeds – ¼ cup
- Melon seeds (char-magaz) – 2 tbsp
- Green chilli – 2, slit lengthwise
- Onion – 4, large, thinly sliced
- Oil – 4 tbsp
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Garam masala – ½ tsp
- Prepare the marinade for chicken by mixing the yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt.
- Marinade the chicken well with the above mixture and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. If you are marinating overnight, do not add salt as it may take the moisture out of the chicken making it dry. Make sure to take out the chicken from the refrigerator at least half an hour before the cooking time to bring it to close to room temperature.
- Make a paste of each of poppy seeds and melon seeds separately using minimal water. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the slit green chillies and sliced onions. Saute them till golden brown.
- Now take out each pieces of chicken from the marinade and add it to the pan reserving the marinated liquid for later.
- Sear the chicken on medium flame until golden on all side.
- Now add the marinated liquid and stir well on high flame.
- Add the sugar, poppy seeds paste and melon seeds paste and give a good mix. Add extra water only if the chicken or spices start to stick to the bottom of the pan, else no need of water.
- Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- When done boil of extra water on high flame if needed and bring the gravy to your desired consistency.
- Sprinkle garam masala and serve hot on a bed of plain white rice.
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