Kolhapuri style Chicken Paandra Rassa ( White chicken curry)

 

Kolhapuri cuisine is famous nationwide and is easily available in all of Maharashtra.Curries are not just tempting but lip smacking & delicious too. These dishes are full of flavors and spices. Some people (who are not from Maharashtra) find kolhapuri food a little hot and spicy but this is a truly marata style curry to suit everybody`s palate with coconut ,cashew,poppy seeds & spices, very mild but rich & creamy.

Pandra rassa/white curry is mild mutton soup/ curry prepared  by using white coconut milk and hot spices with very little chilly or without chilly.you will find strong aromas of spices as well as garlic and ginger in abundance. Pandhara Rassa is served along with the main course as accompaniments.

 

Ingredients:

1. 1kg Chicken,cut into medium sized pieces
2.  2-3 bay leaves
3.  salt to taste
4. 3-4 green chillies ,slit 
5. 3tbsp oil or ghee

For the 1st paste* :

1. 2 Onion,sliced
2. 10 cloves
3. 3-4 pieces of cinnamon
4. 10-12 pepper corns ( you can also use white pepper powder)
5.  4  green chillies
6. 1tsp Saunf/fennel seeds
7. a small piece of Nutmeg
8. 3 Green cardamoms
9. 1tbsp Poppy seeds /Khus Khus
10. 2-3 tsp white sesame seeds/safed til
11. 10 cashew nuts
12. 2inch Ginger
13. 15 Garlic cloves

For the 2nd paste*:
1 Coconut,medium sized,freshly grated
2 liter warm water

Method:

• Soak Poppy seeds,sesame seeds and cashew nut in a bowl of warm water for about 10-15 minutes.
• Now grind 1st paste* ingredients to smooth paste with soaked poppy seeds with very little water .
• Extract coconut milk by grinding grated coconut with warm water ,then strain it using a metal  strainer or a muslin cloth.you'll get thick coconut milk.
• Now Repeat this twice and you will get thin coconut milk.You can use this thin coconut milk when cooking the chicken.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan or handi,add bay leaves and stir for a couple of seconds.
• Add  1st paste* and fry till oil comes on top or till the raw smell goes off.
• Mix chicken pieces with the fried masala till chicken pieces are well coated with the masala.
• Now its time to add thin coconut milk to the chicken and stir it well,cover and cook on medium flame for 10- 15 minutes
• When the chicken is almost cooked add the thick coconut milk and bring it to boil along with the slit green chillies.Now bring this Pandra(white) rassa to a boil,about 6-7 minutes,turn off the heat.
• Garnish with coriander leaves(optional) and serve hot with puri or pulka