Saoji Chicken Curry | Nagpur Style Chicken Curry | Nagpur Special Saoaji Chicken Curry | Spicy Chicken Curry | Spicy Saoji Chicken | Maharashtrian Chicken Recipe | How To make Saoji Chicken Curry
Ingredients -
¼ Dry Coconut
3 Bay Leaves
5-6 Dried Red Chillies
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds
2 Stone Flowers
2-inches Cinnnamon Sticks
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
4-5 Green Cardamom Pods
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
4-5 Cloves
1 tsp Royal Cumin Seeds
1 Star Anise
1 blade Mace
1 Black Cardamom Pod
½ Nutmeg
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
2-3 tbsp Sorghum Flour
2 tbsp Oil
1 Onion (chopped)
10-15 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
2-inches Ginger (chopped)
1 Green Chilli
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves (chopped)
3 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Asafoetida Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
500 gms Chicken
4 tbsp Prepared Onion Mix
4 tbsp Prepared Saoji Mix
2 cups Hot Water
Salt (as required)
Ingredients -
¼ Dry Coconut
3 Bay Leaves
5-6 Dried Red Chillies
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds
2 Stone Flowers
2-inches Cinnnamon Sticks
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
4-5 Green Cardamom Pods
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
4-5 Cloves
1 tsp Royal Cumin Seeds
1 Star Anise
1 blade Mace
1 Black Cardamom Pod
½ Nutmeg
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
2-3 tbsp Sorghum Flour
2 tbsp Oil
1 Onion (chopped)
10-15 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
2-inches Ginger (chopped)
1 Green Chilli
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves (chopped)
3 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Asafoetida Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
500 gms Chicken
4 tbsp Prepared Onion Mix
4 tbsp Prepared Saoji Mix
2 cups Hot Water
Salt (as required)
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello, you lovely people, this is me the Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar
00:03 and welcome to 'Get Curried'.
00:04 Today's recipe is a very simple, very easy recipe
00:08 which is Chicken Sauji.
00:11 This is straight from Nagpur.
00:13 Of course, it has a lot of ingredients
00:15 but I'm going to break it down and make it very simple for you.
00:18 Let's begin.
00:26 First things first, let's see how to make Sauji Masala at home.
00:30 For that, we need to light the flame on high.
00:32 And we need to roast the dry coconut directly on flame.
00:39 We need to ensure that it gets beautifully charred on the outside.
00:42 And that's where the flavour of Sauji really lies.
00:47 Once this is done and ready, we keep this aside.
00:50 The next thing is to allow the dry coconut to cool down.
00:53 Because we need to slice that into pieces.
00:57 And in the pan, we start adding in a few ingredients.
01:00 Beginning with Bay leaves.
01:02 Now, Bay leaves need to be cut into tinier pieces
01:05 because we want them to get nicely roasted.
01:09 Spicy dried red chillies.
01:12 Of course, with the seeds in.
01:14 Cut these as well into tinier bits, like so.
01:18 Poppy seeds.
01:20 Time to add in Lichen flour, which is also known as stone flour.
01:25 Cinnamon sticks.
01:27 Dry coriander seeds.
01:29 Green cardamom.
01:31 Cumin seeds.
01:33 Cloves.
01:35 Royal cumin, which is also known as Shahi Jeera.
01:40 A star anise.
01:43 Just going to break this into pieces.
01:45 And a few cloves.
01:48 Just going to break this into pieces.
01:50 So that it gets roasted nicely.
01:53 A blade of Mace.
01:55 A black cardamom.
02:01 Just open this up lightly.
02:03 Half a Nutmeg.
02:06 Ensure that you do not grate or powder the Nutmeg.
02:09 Because it will just end up burning.
02:11 And you do not want that to happen.
02:13 Time to add in Fennel seeds.
02:17 Ensure that the flame throughout this whole process is medium to low.
02:22 In case you are making this in a larger batch or a larger quantity.
02:25 You need to dry roast each spice separately.
02:29 Now because I am just making this for a small family.
02:32 I am mixing all of this together and dry roasting it.
02:35 But otherwise, if you are the ones who love stocking spices,
02:39 making things in advance, making a large quantity.
02:42 Dry roast this individually.
02:44 Get this hand pounded if you can.
02:46 And keep this in the refrigerator or best in the freezer.
02:50 Well I always say refrigerate your spices because in humid cities,
02:54 it just ensures that the spice does not get spoiled.
02:57 If you are living in a territory which is dry,
02:59 even room temperature is perfectly fine.
03:02 Time to add in one very critical ingredient,
03:07 Jowar flour.
03:09 Well this thickens the gravy, it brings in that earthiness,
03:13 that whole aroma in this gravy.
03:15 And that is very important.
03:16 And also this is regionally available in and around Nagpur.
03:20 So this works wonderfully well.
03:22 I am deliberately adding this right towards the end,
03:25 because this is not going to take a lot of time to get dry roasted.
03:28 And again dry roasting is important so that all the untoward flavours are just taken care of.
03:35 Allow this to get dry roasted for at least 30 to 40 seconds more.
03:39 In the interim, I am going to quickly cut the dry coconut.
03:44 That is flame roasted and ready.
03:48 You can even chop this up roughly the way I have done,
03:56 so that it gets ground easily later.
03:59 With this off goes the flame.
04:05 Allow the spices to cool down completely.
04:07 After which we are going to grind this, of course in a mixie jar,
04:11 into a fine and smooth paste.
04:14 With this our Sauji paste is done and ready.
04:17 What I have also done is, without adding water,
04:20 I just removed like a tablespoon only to show you.
04:23 At this stage, this could be refrigerated or even kept in the deep freezer,
04:27 for months at end, so that you can just cut this whole process,
04:31 of making Sauji masala from scratch.
04:34 You just take like 2 or 3 tablespoons depending on the recipe.
04:37 And then you can just grind this into a fine paste.
04:40 At this stage, this could be refrigerated or even kept in the deep freezer,
04:43 for months at end, so that you can just cut this whole process,
04:46 of making Sauji masala from scratch.
04:48 You just take like 2 or 3 tablespoons depending on the recipe.
04:51 And you get cracking.
04:52 The next step is to make another paste,
04:54 with Onions this time, for which of course we need Oil.
04:58 Now this recipe also requires a lot of Oil,
05:01 because when you actually go to places in Nagpur to,
05:04 taste Sauji Chicken or Sauji Mutton for that matter,
05:07 make do with that, ensure that you add in a little more Oil in this recipe.
05:12 Onions, these are regular red sliced Onions.
05:16 And along with this, I'm also adding in cloves of peeled Garlic.
05:20 You do not have to really wait for the Oil to heat up,
05:23 because this whole process will also take a little while.
05:26 And by the time the Oil heats up, it'll all be good, nothing to worry.
05:31 We keep pan frying the Onions and Garlic,
05:34 till they just kind of begin to turn golden brown in colour.
05:37 And once this happens, we add in pieces of Ginger.
05:41 With this, a spicy Green Chilli, broken into bits.
05:46 We toss this lightly.
05:49 And with this, off goes the flame.
05:51 Time to add in fresh Coriander leaves.
05:59 Just snip these lightly.
06:02 We mix all of this.
06:04 Allow this to cool down completely.
06:06 Once the mixture cools down, we transfer it in a mixie jar,
06:10 and grind it into a fine paste.
06:12 What I've also done is, I've rinsed the jar both the times.
06:16 One, while making the Sauji Masala, the water is right here.
06:20 And while making the Onion paste, the rinsed water is right here.
06:23 We want to keep that because there in also lies a lot of flavour.
06:27 Let's begin with cooking Sauji Chicken.
06:31 Let's begin with Oil.
06:33 Once the Oil heats up, the first ingredient that goes in,
06:40 Asafoetida Powder.
06:42 Turmeric Powder.
06:45 And before this begins to burn, we're going to slide in pieces of Chicken.
06:53 Ensure the Chicken literally gets stir fried on high flame.
06:58 So that it starts getting these brown bits.
07:01 Well in case you're using Chicken with its skin on,
07:04 which typically could also get roasted,
07:08 you can also use a pan.
07:10 But I'm going to use a pan.
07:12 And I'm going to fry this Chicken on high flame.
07:15 So that it starts getting these brown bits.
07:17 And once the Chicken gets these brown bits,
07:20 time to add in both the spices that are here and ready.
07:24 The first one is the Onion mix.
07:26 Well if you have Chicken, you can use Onion mix.
07:29 But I'm going to use the Onion mix.
07:31 And I'm going to add in the Chicken.
07:33 And I'm going to fry this on high flame.
07:35 So that it starts getting these brown bits.
07:37 And once the Chicken gets these brown bits,
07:39 time to add in both the spices that are here and ready.
07:43 The first one is the Onion mix.
07:45 Well if your Chicken is pre-roasted, like lightly,
07:49 you can also begin with Asafoetida, Turmeric powder,
07:53 and then the spices.
07:55 So that's also a trail that you can actually take.
07:57 And along with this, the Sauji mix.
08:01 Let's mix this together.
08:05 Once oil starts releasing the sides of the pan,
08:17 we add in hot water.
08:19 And along with this, we also add in the residual water
08:25 from the mixie jar.
08:27 Time to add in Salt.
08:33 We mix this well.
08:35 Cover this and cook this for a minimum of 20 minutes.
08:39 Of course, it all depends on the size of the Chicken,
08:41 the cut of the Chicken.
08:42 This in my opinion would take 20 minutes.
08:45 You can take your own call.
08:46 The whole idea is to ensure that the flame is medium.
08:50 And the pan is covered.
08:53 It's been 20 minutes, the Chicken would have perfectly cooked.
09:01 Let's have a quick check.
09:03 That looks wonderful.
09:06 The oil has released, the flavours have all become one.
09:12 That's the beauty of Sauji Chicken.
09:15 This is done and ready.
09:17 With this, off goes the flame.
09:19 And this is generally served with Jowar Bhakri,
09:24 Onions, Chillies, and that's about it.
09:27 With this, ladies and gentlemen,
09:28 Sauji Chicken is done and ready.
09:30 Make this for your family, make this for your friends.
09:32 And if you like this slightly lesser on spice,
09:36 go easy on the Chillies.
09:37 This is me, Varun Inamdar, signing off.
09:39 Bye for now.
09:40 'Sauji Chicken'
09:43 'Sauji Chicken'
09:45 [Music]