Chicken Rezala Bengali Style Chicken Curry My Food Story

on Apr 26, 2024 Looking for more chicken curry recipes inspiration? Try my Assamese Black Sesame Chicken Curry, Bihari Chicken Curry, Mangalorean Chicken Curry, and Dhaba Style Chicken Curry recipes! Say hello to yet another recipe from my Chicken curries from India series – Chicken Rezala! Originating from the state of West Bengal, this Bengali chicken curry recipe features tender chicken pieces coated in a gravy made with unique ingredients like poppy seeds and cashew nuts. The result is a silky textured gravy that has delicate, mildly spicy and fragrant flavors. Serve it with some steamed rice or parathas for a comforting and delicious meal you’ll want to make again and again!

Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Chicken Rezala

Here’s everything you need for this recipe:

Richa’s Top Tips To Make The Best Chicken Rezala

Highly recommend using large bone-in chicken pieces as they can withstand the high cooking temperatures and stay juicy and tender until the end. It’s also traditional to use large pieces. However, if large cuts of chicken are not available to you, drumsticks and thighs will work equally well. To make the onion paste, grind a roughly chopped medium onion in the mixer grinder without adding any water. This should yield you approx ⅓ cup of onion paste. Adding dry coconut or kopra to the poppy seed paste is optional. However adding it gives a mild nutty flavour to the gravy, which alleviates the flavors. You can replace poppy seeds with melon seeds if they’re more easily available to you. It’s ok to replace white pepper powder with black pepper powder but you might see specks of this in the gravy. Kewra water is an extract that is distilled from pandanus flowers. It is a transparent liquid and has a very strong flavour. Do not use more than 2-3 drops as it will make the curry bitter.

This is one of those deeply satisfying chicken curries that make you want to take an afternoon nap right after to complete the experience. Even though it’s traditionally eaten with rice, this Bengali chicken curry tastes delicious with rotis, lachha parathas, butter garlic naan, as well as poori. Remember to make extras though, because the restaurant-style flavors of this chicken curry will surely have everyone reaching out for extras, and you don’t want to be running out!