Goalando Steamer Chicken Curry - Sharing The Joy

 The story goes that Goalando Steamer Chicken Curry is named after a curry which was served on a steamer which used to carry people across the Padma river. Goalando was the name of a tiny railway station on the Padma bank. From here passengers would cross the Padma on steamers to make their way to Narayanganj and then to Dhaka by train. The steamer ride was an overnight journey and the boatman would supposedly cook a chicken curry with the bare minimum of spices and ingredients. And it is this chicken curry which is the Goalando Steamer Chicken Curry.

I tried to make it for the first time tonight. And boy, was it wonderful. It is extremely easy, stunningly delicious and is perfect for a day when you realise that you forgot to restock your spice cupboard. I looked at a bunch of recipes and all of them had some constants. I did tweak the recipe slightly (and I’ll let you know where), but you can just stick to the original recipe.

This uses no water and has a lovely red gravy. The wonder is when you peep into the pan while the chicken cooks and watch what seems to be a dry chicken, slowly start swimming in gravy, and then watch the colour of the gravy change from yellow to a sunset red.

You can leave out one of the chilis used – red or green - if you’re spice averse. I used both and think they both add their unique flavours to the gravy and the specks of green and red look lovely in the gravy.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken – pieces on the bone

6 onions - sliced 

2 tablespoons garlic - freshly minced

2 tablespoons ginger - freshly minced

4 dry red chillies - bashed into small pieces

8 green chillies - sliced 
1 teaspoon turmeric powder

½ cup mustard oil (do not scrimp on this)

1 teaspoon salt

Method: 

Marinate the chicken in all the ingredients and keep it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Heat a pan and add the marinated chicken to it. First cook on high flame for 2 minutes, till the chicken starts boiling. Then turn the flame to medium and cook the chicken with a lid on. You can keep checking the chicken and stirring it. In about 20-30 minutes (depending on the quality of your chicken), you should be done. The pan will have a lovely reddish gravy from the onion. Do not add any water.

I also added a teaspoon of sugar in the marinade, which is pretty imperceptible in taste, but accentuates the spiciness of the dish. The onions will impart a sweet balance as it is, so you can skip the sugar if you’d like.

Serve it with hot rice. This is truly delicious. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of the final dish, but I ate it up before I could take a picture.