Carom Chicken

Ajwain is a herb also known as Bishops Weed. This beneficial herb is used in culinary process as spice as well as a major ingredient of different kind of medicines. Ajwain seeds are small in size but taste hot, penchant and bitter. It acts as good appetizer, laxative and stomachic. It is used as effective remedy in managing ailments like vomiting, mouth diseases, pile, treatment of ascites, abdominal tumor, abdominal pain etc.

Ajwain seeds mainly feature in savory Indian, Pakistani, and Middle-Eastern cooking. In order to keep the fragrance and flavor intact, ajowan seeds generally crushed just before preparing dishes and added to the cooking recipes at final stages. This is because prolonged cooking results in evaporation of essential oils.

• In Punjab province of India and Pakistan, the spice seeds particularly added to make bread known as ajwain paratha.
  
• Some Indian vegetarian bean/lentil and chicken/fish curries contain this spice and in the Middle East, it is used to flavor meat and rice dishes.
  
• The seeds generously used in snacks, spicy biscuits, to flavor drinks, soups, sauces in India.
  

So, last week I tried to use some carom seeds in my chicken preparation which turned out well. Let me share the recipe with you guys named 'Carom Chicken'.

Carom Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Chicken
• 2 cup of sliced onion
• 2 tomatoes ( finely chopped)
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1" of ginger
• 5-6 hot green chili
• 1 tsp Red Chili powder
• 1/4 cup yogurt(well beaten)
• 1&1/2 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp carom seeds/ajwain
• 5 green cardamom ground
• ginger-garlic-chili paste
• 4 dry red chili crushed
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 black big cardamom
• 5 green cardamom
• 3 tbsp oil
• salt

Method:

• Make a paste of garlic, ginger, green chili and keep aside.
• In a bowl marinate chicken pieces with yogurt, ground coriander, 1/2 tsp of carom seeds/ajwain, green cardamom ground, ginger-garlic-chili paste, salt. 
• Heat oil for cooking in a kadai.Temper the oil with 1/2 tsp of carom seeds/ajwain, dry red chili crushed, bay leaf, black and green cardamom lightly crushed.
• Now add sliced onion and fry till onion is golden. Next add tomatoes. Add Red Chili powder, little salt. Cook till tomatoes are all mushed up and oil starts separating from the masala.
• Next add the chicken along with the marinade. Fry the chicken for at least 20 minutes at low-medium heat till you see the chicken has lost its raw color and has started browning. Now sprinkle a little water, add salt to taste and cover and let chicken cook. Remove cover and stir in between. Do not add any more water.
• Once the chicken is cooked, remove cover and continue frying the chicken till the masala releases oil on the surface. Add fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice and serve.