Spicy Chicken with Green Chillies

I haven't posted a chicken dish in a long time, isn't it? My vegetarian friends have to excuse me this time :) However my non-veg friends have been insisting me to post some non-veg recipes as I haven't posted any chicken recipes in a looong time! When I noticed Viki's Potluck Chicken event going on and myself being a chicken lover, I have no excuse not to post them :) So last weekend, I rolled up my sleeves, got into the kitchen and made this fabulous chicken dish, thats long due. There are quite a few chicken dishes ideal for potlucks that I wanted to post, but just haven't had the time to make them, except this one.

I have to say that I love Potlucks! There are several reasons for my liking. First, Potluck is a food-lovers dream. I like the idea of having friends together to chit-chat and share fabulous food! Second, its neither stressful, nor too formal. Hosting a formal dinner requires lots of planning and labor and by the time everything is prepared and ready to be served I'm too tired to enjoy the party. Third, its a great way to share recipes! I love the fact that I actually first try the dish myself before I ask for the recipe and try it myself. This way, I'm familiar with the taste, color, consistency etc. And last but not least, the joy in choosing the dish (perfect time to make that "show-stopper" dish!) and an ideal opportunity to show our creativity skills too. I should say that I've been very lucky to have attended many interesting potlucks over the years. Some with great themes, some with great entertainment, some with just great food! Though we started off by organizing and attending potlucks only for special occassions like Diwali, New year etc, a while later we learnt that it doesn't hurt to try different foods for no special reasons :)

This is a classic potluck chicken recipe - its rich and flavorful. There are certain recipes we know that we just need to try them the very first time we hear about them. Its that certain thing that sticks to my mind and keeps pointing out that this dish should come out great. As the name implies, this recipe doesn't use chilli powder which is commonly used in majority of the Indian Chicken dishes, but uses only green chillies. My sister shared this recipe with me after she watched it in a TV show. I have been drooling over her recipe ever since I heard it, but have been postponing due to the lack of interest of making this dish just for myself (and mere laziness!) because my husband is a vegetarian. So when I saw Viki's Potluck Chicken event, I wanted to try this dish right away. I finally tried it last weekend and I just loved the outcome! Its a little consuming (to me) than my usual dishes, but I thought its worth for a potluck because thats the only dish I'll be making anyway. It tasted creamy, rich and quite different than my regular chicken dishes. Hope you all like it too.

This recipe is on its way to Viki's Potluck Chicken event.

Ingredients:

• Boneless/Skinless Chicken thighs - 1 lb
• Lemon juice - 2 tsp
• Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• G.chillies (Spicy Thai Chillies) - 10 - 12 (Adjust to your spice level)
• Red/Yellow Onion - 1 medium
• Tomatoes - 2 medium
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Any Chicken Masala or Garam masala - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Mixed Nuts (Cashews/Almonds/Pistachios) - 4 each (I used just cashews and almonds)
• Corriander leaves - a hand full.

Procedure:

• Clean the chicken cut into bite size pieces. Marinate with lemon juice, salt and ginger garlic paste for 1 hour.
• Heat a pan with oil and shallow fry the chicken until golden brown outside. Set aside.
• In the same pan, add a little more oil and fry chopped onions until soft. Make a paste.
• In the same oil, fry the green chillies and make a paste.
• Drop the tomato in hot water and peel it. Make a puree.
• Make a watery paste of turmeric and chicken masala/garam masala.
• Make a paste of the nuts along with the milk. 2 or 3 tsps of the paste is good enough.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the onion paste and chillies paste; fry until you smell the nice aroma (3-5 mins).
• Add the powder paste and fry until cooked. Then add the tomato puree, followed by the fried chicken and fry until the chicken absorbs the masala. If necessary, can leave the pan covered for a few minutes.
• Just before turning off the stove add the nuts paste, corriander leaves. Stir and serve.

Tastes awesome with Naan/Rotis.