Green Chicken Chutney

It took me some time to find out, or rather I should say "figure out" the name for this preparation. The reason is simple - I created this recipe :).

The first part of the name, i.e., "Green" and "Chicken" were no-brainers. It's a chicken dish made from ingredients most of which are green in color, and the final dish also looks green. But it took me some time to convince the others to decide on "Chutney". The word "chutney" has originated from the word "chaat na" which literally means "licking" in English. So, while in the central part of India chutney is anything which is hot and spicy, in the eastern part of India people like to lick their fingers after eating something (extremely) sweet! And to add more to the confusion, I think in the southern part of India chutney is something extra-tangy!

Anyway, everyone in my family said that it turned out to be very tasty and begged me to put it in this blog. So, here goes the recipe!

Here's how the Green Chicken Chutney looks once it's done.

The steps are described below. I have taken pictures at various stages to present the recipe. This way, I can avoid the specifying the proportions of the ingredients in lbs, oz, kgs, grams, tablespoon, teaspoon, "as desired", etc. - which I think is a big source of confusion!

Step 1: Get the following ingredients:

a) Cilantro

b) Green Tomato (I used the ones from our backyard garden - feel free to use red ones instead)

c) Green Chillies

d) Garlic

e) Ginger

f) Coriander Powder

Grind these in a mixer to make a green paste. You can add a little water if it is too dry to grind.

Step 2: Get also the following ingredients:

a) Chopped Onion

b) "Jaipatri" (I will find out the English for this later)

c) Bay Leaves

Step 3: Get chicken - bone or boneless, either is fine. I am using thigh quarters cut into pieces.

Step 4: Fry the ingredients of Step 2 in oil (do not brown).

Step 5: Add the chicken when the onions look like this.

Step 6: Cook in medium heat for about 10 min. At this point the chicken should be almost done as shown below.

Step 7: Now add the green paste and start cooking in sim.

Step 8: You should be done in 15 min or so. Enjoy!