Chicken ChaaNp or Chaap-- Mughal dish from Bengal

Today I wanted to try Bengali Cooking. Read lot of recipes, Saw lot of videos and finally came up with my version of this dish.The dish actually is pretty easy to make. Do not get intimidated by the Steps under Prep. They are all very simple. So if you are all set for a Nawabi meal go ahead and indulge yourself. Serve this dish with some biriyani.

Ingredients

• Make Garam Masala powder according to my recipe. My Garam masala has cardamom, clove, cinnamon, little javetri(mace) and dry red chillies. It is really aromatic and will add more flavor to the dish. We will use about 1 tbsp of this Garam Masala
• 3 Onions Paste
• 2 Tbsp Garlic Paste
• 1 Tbsp Ginger Paste
• 4 Green Chillis Paste
• 1 Javitri – whole
• 1 Nutmeg
• 1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Melon Seeds
• 2 tbsp Poppy Seeds
• 10 Cashews
• 1 cup Curd
• few drops of Kewra water
• few drops of Rose water
• Saffron 5 strands in 1 tbsp warm milk
• Cinnamon  : 2 inch stick
• Tej pata : 2
• Black Pepper Corns : 4
• StarAnise: 2
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt as per taste
• Oil+Ghee for Cooking

Method

• In a large tray put the washed pieces of chicken.
• Make slit in the chicken pieces and rub with salt and about 1/2 tbsp of Garam Masala powder.
• In a grinder add poppy seeds, cashews, melon seeds with warm water and make a paste of it.
• In another masala grinder add Javitri and Nutmeg and grind to powder
• Make Marinade of Onion Paste, Ginger-Garlic Paste, Chilli Paste, Poppy Seeds-Cashew-Melon Seeds Paste, Curd, Garam Masala Powder, red Chilli, Tumeric Powder, Javitri-Nutmeg Powder, Salt, Kewra Water, Rose Water and Saffron Milk.
• Next add half of the marinade to the chicken pieces and mix well. Leave it overnight for the flavor to seep into the chicken. If not overnight at least 3-4 hours is recommended. 
• Start Cooking In a pan with a flat bottom heat  2 tbsp oil + 1 tsp ghee (Note: I try to cook most of my food low in oil and ghee and so my oil and ghee proportions are much less than what you might see in other recipes. I am perfectly ok with this as we are not too much into oily food. But if you want to make the dish richer do increase the ghee a little )
• Temper the oil with a 2" stick of cinnamon, Tejpata, Star Anise, Black Peppercorn
• Now add a tsp of sugar to the oil and brown the oil by swirling the pan.
• Next lower the heat  .Shake off excess marinade from the chicken pieces and add them to the pan. Do not overcrowd them and the pieces should lie side by side. Cook/Fry the chicken pieces till their raw coloring is gone and they have taken on a light yellow coloring. Do not deep fry the chicken and they should not turn brown.
• Now add remaining chicken marinade and some salt to taste. Gently mix and cook for 10 minutes.
• Cover the pan now and at low-medium heat let the chicken cook. Usually the chicken will release water and will get cooked in its own juice. No need to add any extra water. However if it is getting too dry, add little water judiciously. It will take around 30-40 minutes for the chicken to get fully cooked.
• Once the chicken is done and a thin layer of oil has surfaced, taste the gravy and adjust for seasonings. At this point if you wish, you can also dry off the gravy a little. Add few more drops of kewra water at this point if you wish.
• Serve with Biriyani or Naan. I have seen the gravy and chicken tastes much better when had the next day. So give some time for the flavors to mingle before you serve.