Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry Recipe with History/ Goalondo Fowl Curry
If we go for the recipe, Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry Recipe, it looks very easy to prepare but we should know and understand completely the essence behind this renowned Recipe which made it legendary. It was rediscovered by the culinary expert and food historian Pritha Sen
The history behind this recipe
This is the history of the late 19th century, when Bangladesh was known as east Bengal; then people used to travel from Sealdah main station (now Sealdah) to the Goalondo ghat; a small town built on the conflux of Padma and Brahmaputra rivers for onward journey to Dhaka( now in Bangladesh).
The train used to reach Goalondo, daily, early in the morning. From Goalondo people used to choose steamer on the Padma river for Narayanganj and again take the train for onward journey to Dhaka, Sylhet, or Chittagong (all in Bangladesh now) and parts of Assam.
The steamer or boat from Goalondo Ghat to Narayanganj made an overnight journey
That meant that the boatmen had to cook and serve food onboard the steamer. In their makeshift kitchen, the ‘khalasi’(a manual worker, especially a docker, porter, or sailor) would prepare rice and chicken curry to go with it. They used the very simplest of ingredients, such as mustard oil, red chilies, onion, and garlic, to prepare the chicken curry.
The end result was thin gravy with a little red oil floating on top that was extremely hot. It was popular among the passengers who relished the thin and spicy gravy served with rice.
Goalondo Fowl Curry is a light preparation of country chicken, cooked with basic spices by the boatmen who hailed from East Bengal and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The culinary expert and food historian Pritha Sen researched and found a common thread– the curry had thin red gravy, with oil floating on top. It was fiery and it reached near perfection when she added dry shrimp paste to it.
Let’s stir up the legendary Goalondo chicken curry served aboard the Goalondo boats.
Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry
As the boatman and khalasi don’t have special items to make the food special, they used to use very simple things to prepare. One of the main things they used, was sil-nora (grinding stone)
With the help of the sil-nora, they would grind all the items like onion, ginger, garlic, and red chili at a time. Half of them they used along with mustard oil, turmeric powder, and salt for rubbing the desi chicken with bones and also with potatoes and kept for marinating for 1-2 hours( as they would go for other jobs, like washing and other things)
Now they would make a fire and heat oil in a big kadai and would add the leftover ground mixture and fry them until the raw smell went off
Then they would add the marinated chicken with marinate and stir them for 5 minutes (In Bengali Kosha) Add water and cover them and allow them to cook for 30-40 minutes. ( they used to add sufficient water to make the gravy thin so as to distribute all the on-board passengers)
Now they would serve the chicken curry with hot rice
The types of equipment required for this recipe are
Blender
Mixing bowl
Frying pan with lid
Spatula
Ingredients required are
Chicken; for better results, buy country chicken (use fresh desi chicken with bone pieces)
Potatoes; I used radish-colored small (Pahari alu) potatoes for better result
Onion; Taken medium sized onions
Dry shrimps; It is better to use dry shrimp than fresher one
Cooking oil; must be mustard oil
Other ingredients are garlic, ginger, whole red chili, green chili, turmeric powder, water, and salt
Step-by-Step Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry Recipe
Take ginger, garlic, whole red chili, and dry prawns; put them in a grinder jar, and add little water
Make a smooth paste and keep them aside
Collect all other items to be required
Cut the onions and put them in a blender jar and make a coarse paste ( or you cut them into small pieces)
In a mixing bowl, add the chicken pieces, half of the onion paste and half of the red chili paste, mustard oil, turmeric powder, halved potatoes, and salt
Rub them well with chicken pieces, cover them, and keep them aside for 1 hour
Heat oil in a pan, add the left-over paste, and fry them until the raw smell goes off
Add green chilies, marinated chicken and potatoes with marinate and stir them for 5 minutes
Add 4 cups of water, cover the lid, and allow them to cook for 35-40 minutes on low flame
Turn off the heat after 35 minutes and allow them to rest for another 7-8 minutes
Open the cover, and serve hot with rice
Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry Recipe
Equipment
- blender
- mixing bowl
- A kadai or a fry pan
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 750 gm Chicken
- 3 Potato(halved)
- 2 Onion
- 1/4th cup dry shrimp
- 1/2 cup Mustard oil
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 6 green chili
- 6 red chili
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- salt
- 750 water
Instructions
- Take ginger, garlic, whole red chili and dry prawns; putthem in a grinder jar, and add little water
- Make a smooth paste and keep them aside
- Collect all other items to be required
- Cut the onions and put them in a blender jar and make acoarse paste ( or you cut them into small pieces)
- In a mixing bowl, add the chicken pieces, half of the onionpaste and half of the red chili paste, mustard oil, turmeric powder, halvedpotatoes and salt
- Rub them well with chicken pieces, cover, and keep themaside for 1 hour
- Heat oil in a pan, and add the left-over paste and fry them untilthe raw smell goes off
- Add the marinated chicken and potatoes with marinate andstir them for 5 minutes
- Add green chilies, and 2 cups of water, and cover the lidand allow them to cook for 35-40 minutes on low flame
- Turn off the heat after 35 minutes and allow them to restfor another 7-8 minutes
- Open the cover, and serve hot with rice