Bengali Chicken Stew

This was a pretty easy thing to throw together. Lots of good Indian spices and not a lot f fuss to cook. One tip: wait until your chicken has thawed completely. Some parts of mine were a bit frozen and it threw off the cooking time.

In retrospect, I'm going to take the meat off the bone before eating and maybe pull it apart a little bit next time. Most of the goodness in the stew is in the broth, which you don't get so much when you're just eating the meat with a knife and fork. It would be better to scoop it all up in a spoonful at the same time. We'll try that when we have it for leftovers tomorrow night. Otherwise, I think it's pretty good!

1.2 kg whole chicken
80 milliliters vegetable oil
1 teaspoon panch phoran* (1/4 tsp each cumin seed, fenugreek seed, mustard seed, fennel seed - ground together)
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
5cm cassia bark or cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste*
1.5 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoons ground cumin
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
150 g potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
150 g cauliflower, cut into florets
¼ teaspoon Bengali garam masala* (or any garam masala you have laying around)
1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Joint the chicken into 8 pieces and remove the skin. Heat the oil in a large deep saute pan and saute the chicken pieces for a minute or so, without colouring. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Reheat the oil remaining in the pan. Add the panch phoran, bay leaf, cloves and cassia or cinnamon. Saute for 1-2 minutes, then add the ginger-garlic paste and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until it loses its raw taste.

Stir in the powdered spices, add the tomatoes and saute for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and salt, cook on a low heat for 2 minutes, then add 400ml water. Bring to a simmer and add the potatoes and cauliflower.

Cook for about 20 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are cooked. Serve sprinkled with Bengali garam masala and chopped coriander.