East Indian
Murgir Jhol (Bengali Light Chicken Curry)
Murgir Jhol (Bengali Light Chicken Curry) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb chicken, curry cut, bone-in
- 2 potatoes
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
- 2 onion
- 2 tomato
- 1.5 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp panch phoron
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin-coriander
- 2 green chilies
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups water
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
How to cook it
- Rub the chicken pieces with a little turmeric and salt and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of mustard oil in a pot and fry the potato chunks until golden on the edges, about 5 minutes, then remove.
- In the same pot, heat the remaining mustard oil until it shimmers, then temper with the panch phoron and bay leaf.
- Add the onions and fry until golden, about 8 minutes, then stir in the ginger-garlic paste for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, turmeric, chili powder, and cumin-coriander, and cook until the oil separates.
- Add the chicken pieces and sear on all sides for about 5 minutes.
- Return the potatoes to the pot, pour in the water, add salt and green chilies, and simmer uncovered until the chicken and potatoes are tender and the gravy is thin, about 25 minutes.
- Finish with cilantro and serve hot with steamed rice.
Serve it with
A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Murgir Jhol (Bengali Light Chicken Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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The protein alongside
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What it is eaten with
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Murgir Jhol (Bengali Light Chicken Curry) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- High
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Meat or fish and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Murgir Jhol (Bengali Light Chicken Curry) takes about 50 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on chicken, potato, and onion.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from East India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.