Herman's Chicken Pickle

Ingredients

½ Kg - Chicken, boneless cut to small pieces
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Ingredients to dry roast
10 - Cloves
2 '' long - Cinnamon sticks
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp
4 - Green cardamom

Ingredients for masala
2 tbsp - Poppy seeds
1.5 to 2 tbsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tspn Fenugreek powder
1 tbsp - Vinegar Or 1 tbsp - Lemon juice or Vinegar

Ingredients for Seasoning.
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp - Jeera seeds
Asafoetida : 1/8 tspn
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
1 to 1.5 cup - Sesame oil / vegetable oil

Method

1 ) In a bowl mix together ginger garlic paste, turmeric. Add washed chicken pieces to this mixture and coat well. Cook chicken add salt to taste. Mostly you will not need to add water, some water will come out of the chicken. Cook on low heat, covered with a lid till all the water is evaporated. Take off stove and cool.

2 ) Dry roast ingredients listed for that, cool and grind to a powder, set aside. Grind poppy seeds to a fine powder, set aside.

3 ) Heat 1 cup oil in kadai or wok, add cooked chicken pieces in small batches and fry lightly. Do not overfry the chicken as this turns the pieces hard to chew. Light golden brown color would be good.Take off the oil and drain. To the same oil, add mustard seeds, jeera, asafoetida and then curry leaves. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry until golden brown.

4 ) Lower heat and add poppy seed powder, red chili powder, fenugreek powder mix and fry for a second. Add the dry roasted masala powder and fry in oil for a second. Add chicken and mix with masala. Add vinegar, salt to taste and mix well. Take off the stove and cool. There should be good enough oil in the pickle. If not heat 1/2 cup more oil and add to the pickle. Oil will act as a preservative. You can add 1 tbsp more vinegar or lemon juice if you like the pickle to be a little more sour. If you want more gravy then increase poppy seeds and garlic-ginger amount.

When completely cool transfer to a sterilized bottle and store. This pickle stays fresh for a month even if not refrigerated. If you are not refrigerating the pickle and leaving it outdoors, make sure the pickle is covered with good amount of oil floating on top.

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