Serve chicken rezala with indian flatbreads like doughy naan or rumali roti to soak up that ric sauce. Or serve with cumin scented rice(jeera rice). This chicken rezala recipe closely resembles creamy mughlai murgh korma (chicken korma), however, its a bit different in terms of selection of spices and no use of heavy cream. The best thing about mughlai cooking is the use of delicate and rich flavors. You will not find chicken rezala on restaurant menus here. However, its such a gem of recipe specially during winter time when we crave rich curries. These recipes come in handy when you want to make chicken on special occasions or are craving indulgent flavors but do not want to take out.
About Bengali Chicken Rezala
Chicken rezala is a royal & luxirious white gravy dish from mughlai cuisine of india. It is popular in bengali cuisine and has a rich taste with layers of taste, aroma, and the indulgent textures. Rezala sauce is on a sweeter side with nuts, onion paste and sugar all contributing to the sweetness. Then, there are hints of tanginess from whole yogurt to lightly balance the sweetness and creaminess from the nut and white poppy seeds paste. It has complex yet mild flavors. The heat mainly comes from ground white pepper and green chillies. The thin layer of fat that separates from yogurt, chicken, fried onions and ghee used while cooking contributes to its richness. In bengali cooking, in contrast to punjabi cooking, the use of tomatoes is limited and it teases your palate with a sympony of fragrant spices. I did not grow up eating chicken rezala but after getting married, I really got interested in bengali dishes and started making a few recipes like macher jhol, kolkata eggroll and mishti doi.
Ingredients
Chicken - Bone in chicken is the best choice. The dark meat of chicken thighs and drumsticks and the collagen of bones contributes to the flavor and richness of the sauce. Use skinless chicken. I usually make it with chicken drumsticks, however ideally chicken leg quaters are used in making chicken rezala. Halal shops here in United States sell whole chicken that they will cut for you. It is ideal to use to make chicken rezala. Yogurt - Use whole milk, plain yogurt. Make sure that the yogurt is not too sweetish else it will overpower the sweetness of the rezala sauce. Thick yougyrt is preferable, I use greek yogurt and it works fine. White Pepper - Ideally such mellow and creamy mughlai chicken recipes such as rezala or korma or chicken malai marinade use white peppercorns. White peppercorn has a musty flavor and I find that it has a a pronounced subtle residual heat that hits the back of tongue as compared to kick from black pepper powder that instantly hits you. Besides the flavor, white pepper also preserves the pearly white color of the gravy. But you dont have to purchase it just for this dish, use a combination of green chillies and black pepper for taste. Whole Spices - We want to achieve a combination of heat & aroma from the spices but the flavors should not become strong. Dried red kashmiri chillies, black peppercorns, bay leaves, coriander seeds and sweet aromatic spices such as green cardamom, mace, nutmeg powder and cinnamon are the spices that will go into the sauce. Cashews & White Poppy Seeds - These two ingredients form the body of the rezala sauce. White poppy seeds or khus khus or posto are a popular ingredient in bengali cooking and once soaked and ground with cashews, they make the sauce creamy. You can vary the amount of these two ingredinents if you prefer a less creamy sauce. Onions - I like to grind the onions to a paste and use it. I use yellow onions beause I dont want to interfere with the color of the sauce. So rezala sauce isnt chunky, it is smooth. If you want you could use fried onions and turn them into a paste for a strong umami taste. Aromatics- Besides spices, saffron, kewra water or meetha attar (edible sweet liquid scent) or rose water are also used to enhnace the flavor and aroma of chicken rezala. I use few saffron strands and kewra to finish. Other ingredients - garlic paste, ginger paste, salt, green chillies
Consistency of Rezala Sauce
Ideally, or in the original recipes from famous Calcutta restaurants, you will find a thin, runny sauce with a layer of ghee separating. In my homemade version I make it both thin or thick depending on if I serving it with rice or with flatbreads. My kids generally prefer a thick masala in chicken dishes. You can thin out the sauce depending on your preferance.
Instructions
Preperation
This is not a straigforward chicken recipe such as murgh masala. You do need to prepare in terms of marinating the chicken, making the cashews - poppy seedsd paste and making the spice powder. Longer you marinate the chicken, its better. I usually marinate it overnight. You can start to prepare a 1-2 days ahead or even a few hours ahead.
Make Chicken rezala
Pull out the marinated chicken out of the refrigerator 1-1.5 hours before beginning to cook.