Pakistani Behari Chicken

There is more than one way to celebrate. More than one way to observe Ramadan. More than one way to share the love of food. This year will be a year without Iftar Parties, but that doesn't mean we still can't make the effort to enjoy some delicious dishes just because. Isn't that a lovely idea? To cook things for just us without worry, just for the love of food? When I first spoke to the friends who will be joining me here (Monday every week!) for a guest post Ramadan looked very different. Now I am extra grateful for having them in my life because of the joy they bring. This here Behari Chicken is looking mighty joyous too 😉

Ok so without further ado friends - come, meet another blogger. Her name is Wajiha and she blogs over at Butter Over Bae where she shares her Pakistani recipes and the kind of food knowledge any foodie is excited about!

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Wajiha, Butter Over Bae

Hey Sarah, thank you so much for having me over! Although I am so bad at introducing myself that you might have to do it again for me! Well here goes, So am.....HI! I love cooking (like that was needed to be said) But I pursued a degree in Dentistry, not sure why. Currently I live in KSA as a Pakistani expat and here is where my love for cooking has bloomed into a full blown Blog known as Butter Over Bae that I treat as my littleeeee baby. What else? I Love Christopher Nolan, wish someone would  tell him that, and I think Money Heist is overrated, (even though I watched all the seasons, ya come at me bro). Oh yeah and I am married. Was that important? 

I assure you my blog is a little less controversial then the statement I just made. Unless you call mixing nachos and chicken tikka controversial? Because that's something I love to do.

Behari Chicken from a Bihari Family

The recipe I thought I'll make for you guys today is of Behari chicken. My Dadi (paternal grandmother) was originally from Bihar and the amazing delicacies that she's made us eat over the years are just pure love! You can imagine, Behari kebabs and Beef stew are my family's specialty. So I thought, let's bring you something from my roots today. And if you guys have had authentic Bihari food, you know, its not that spicy, its seasoned well but its not as spicy as regular Pakistani food. Here goes.

Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

Behari Chicken

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Pakistani

Keyword: Behari, Bihari, Kabab, Pakistani

Author: Sarah Mir

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken cut into 2 leg pieces and 2 breast pieces tikka cuts (with skin removed)
• 1 large onion fried golden brown
• ½ cup yogurt
• 2 tsp salt or to taste
• 2 tsp roasted grounded cumin seeds zeera
• 2 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp of roasted poppy seeds optional
• Oil for coating

Instructions

• Wash and pat your chicken dry. Add cuts along the lengths of your chicken pieces.
• In a blender add brown fried onions, along with yogurt and all the other spices. Blend until you get fine smooth paste.
• Marinate the chicken pieces in the heavy marinade. Making sure you get all the nooks and crannies.
• Cover the chicken and let it marinade for 4 hours or overnight. You can smoke your chicken with a coal at this point.
• Remove the chicken from the fridge at least 30 mins before you have to make it.
• Cooking methods:
• a. On a BBQ grill. - This is pretty straight forward. You fire up a grill and grill on both sides till its nice and charred
• b. Pan frying. - Pan fry the pieces on a pan at high flame on both sides for about 4 mins on each side or till you get a nice color on both sides. Then reduce the flame to low. Cover the pan and let it cook for another 10 mins.
• c. Baking - Grease a pan with oil or butter and place your chicken pieces on it. Coat the chicken with oil as well. Cover the chicken in foil and Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 375F or 15 mins. Remove the foil and Turn on the broil and bake for another 5 mins until you get a nice color on top. Take the chicken out, flip the pieces over and broil for another 5 mins.
• Serve with some extra lemon slices to squeeze on top, onion slices and mint chutney.

Notes

If you are going dairy free, you can substitute yogurt with 4 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp vinger.
The spice level in Behari chicken isn't very high, so if you want, you can up the spice level.
You can prepare all types of chicken cuts with the same marination. Reduce the salt to 1 tsp if using small boneless cubes.
If you want super tender melt in your mouth Behari chicken, you can add 1 tbsp of raw papaya paste half an hour before grilling the chicken.

Want to make this later? Just PIN the image below!