CHICKEN PICKLE - A SPICY CHICKEN PICKLE FROM ANDHRA

A hot and spicy chicken pickle from Andhra, normally people like to have this spicy pickle with hot steamed rice or with soft dosas. One of my husbands aunt(my FIL s brothers wife) use to make this pickle in every summer after Avakaya.She use to say this pickle is a good combination with curd rice. Before that I never seen a pickle with meat because in my mothers place we are all vegetarians any ways.. after that my sister is an expert in making chicken pickle, and one fine day

my sister shared this recipe with me long back, since hubby dear is a non-veg lover I tried this recipe for him. You can make the same recipe with boneless fish pieces also. I usually make this with small portions like with 200 grams so that he can finish the pickle in less time. He don't like the same pickle for long time so I make chicken and fish pickles for him, make small quantity and keep the pickle in fridge, so that you can use the different pickles for long time. He don't like more gravy in pickles so I made it little less gravy if you want you can make it more gravy with adding more oil and lemon juice. A big Thanks to my sister and here is my hubby dears favorite recipe...............

INGREDIENTS:----
Chicken --- 1 kg (bone less or with bones, I used bone less)

Turmeric powder --- 1/2 tea sp

Ginger garlic paste -- 2 tea sp

Oil ---- 250 gms.

Garam masala --- 2 teasp

Red chili powder --- 8--10 tea sp (according to you spice level you can increase or reduce the red chili powder)

Mustard and fenugreek powder -- 1 tab sp(dry roast 1 tab sp black mustard seeds and 1 tea sp fenugreek seeds till they become hot take care that the seeds should not change the color and they should not splutter just heat the seeds. now make a fine powder in a blender and store it in a air tight bottle this will help you in making like this instant pickles.)

Salt --- 1& 1/2 tea sp or according to taste

Lemon juice --- 4 tab sp

METHOD:----

1. Cut chicken in to bite size pieces and wash under running water and drain.

2. Take this chicken pieces in to a mixing bowl add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, 1/2 tea sp salt mix well to coat the marination to the chicken pieces well. Cover with a lid or foil and leave it in the fridge for 12 hours or over night.

3. Next day morning transfer this marinated chicken in to a pan and start cooking in a low flame (don't add water this process is for remove the moisture in the chicken) so let the chicken cook till the moisture disappears.

4. After the moisture disappear add oil keep the heat in medium and mix gently cover with a lid and cook for 2 min.

5.Remove the lid and mix well and fry the chicken in a medium flame till light golden color Here one point very important is don't over fry the chicken as this turns the chicken hard to chew so remove the chicken in a light brown color.

6. When the chicken pieces starts turn into light brown color add remaining salt, Red chilli powder, muatard and fenugreek powder garam masala,lemon juice mix well and let the raw smell of the powder masala disappears remove from the heat this will take 2 sec. in high flame.

7. Remove from heat and let it cool, adjust salt and chilli powder and transfer the chicken pickle in to a glass jar. Keep the chicken pickle jar in fridge.

Serve with hot steamed rice or with parathas or dosas...

Some important tips:

• Always use a clean and dry spoon to scoop out the pickle.
• If you fell like the pickle looks dry then add little more oil no need to heat the oil.
• You can start using this pickle from the same day.
• Don't add the lemon juice after you remove from heat or don't add raw lemon juice that will spoil the pickle. If you want to add more lemon juice after you remove the pickle from heat then heat the lemon juice in a low flame for few sec then add the warm lemon juice to the pickle and let it cool the store.