This authentic Bengali chicken drumstick curry with potatoes (otherwise known as Murgir Jhol with aloo) is my childhood (and adult) favourite, and a very popular dish among Bengali households! I personally believe it is the gravy made out of a combination of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and fragrant spices cooked slowly over a low to medium heat that makes it one of my mother’s best Bengali recipes.
As a child, I would be over the moon when my mother was cooking this classic Bengali chicken dish, usually for dinner. Just for the record, I am still over the moon when she cooks this and our family home is filled with amazing aromas.
To mark my entry into the food blogging world, I wanted to cook dishes that I grew up with to pay homage to my Indian, but specifically, Bengali heritage that has made my upbringing so unique.
Recipes from Kolkata (sometimes spelt as Calcutta), Assam, Bangladesh (and Bengal generally) are not given the accolades they deserve in the West, often being overlooked in the portfolio of South-Asian food. Dare I say, this dish is a strong contender against butter chicken even…
I am here to give this dish and other Bengali food a spotlight and in the process, share a hugely satisfying meal with you. If you want to learn more about my background and why I love food, cooking and history so much, head over to my About page.
If you’re interested in other Bengali recipes, check out my bengali lamb chops recipe, aubergine fry and tomato chutney.
What makes this dish unique?
One of the things that makes this South-Asian chicken curry relatively unique is that you will find no trace of dairy, making the curry gravy lightweight and soupy in nature.
That means in contrast to the likes of your butter chickens, it is cooked without yoghurt, milk (and coconut milk), or cream and requires no marination, making it a somewhat easier curry to cook (but make no mistake, it is one of those dishes that you give love and attention to).
The flavourful curry broth and gravy depend instead on taking time with this dish, allowing flavour profiles to build from the different layers of Indian onions, garlic, tomatoes and a combination of spices and herbs. After the chicken curry finishes cooking and you let it rest for 10 minutes or so, you will be left with this beautiful layer of lal (red) jul (gravy)! It is so beautiful and soupy, and perfect to eat with rice
Chicken drumsticks vs. other types of chicken and boneless chicken?
Personally, I think this dish is the best made with chicken drumsticks and I have tried it as a chicken thigh curry, but honestly, I was a little bit underwhelmed. So my recommendation, stick to the drumsticks!
On the other hand, if you’re understandably phobic of chicken bones in your food, you could use chicken breast chunks in this recipe.
Note though, that the chicken bones will most likely contribute to flavour in this dish so you might be missing out on creating some depth in the flavour profile.
Important steps in this recipe
Potatoes: Although not the star of the show, the cooking of the potatoes and the timing of when you add these into the curry are actually really important! The potatoes are the sister of the star of the show. Bengalis usually fry their root vegetable in turmeric and salt. My recipe calls for adding onions and garnishing the potatoes with coriander, but these are totally optional steps. What is important though, is to make sure that they have a nice golden outer layer before you set them to the side. You should add the potatoes into the curry after you have completed the initial steps of forming the curry base and allowing the chicken drumsticks to have cooked for a bit (See more detail in the recipe card below).
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Cooking (but not burning) your spices: It’s also really important that when you fry your onions, garlic and tomatoes in the listed spices, you allow them to cook together for about 3-4 minutes. The last thing you want in your curry, is the taste of untoasted, raw spices, ew!
The additions: Don’t forget the additions too. I feel these additions are the secret to taking this dish to the next level. That is, after you have cooked your onions, garlic, and tomatoes with your spices and added to your chicken, you separately ground up ginger, cardamom and garlic. You also separately get your other additions together (the cinnamon and the bay leaf).
This might be your first time cooking with South-Asian flavours, or specifically Bengali food and if that’s the case then Bong Eats have a super useful guide on ‘Bengali Pantry Essentials’.
Ingredients
- Two whole Indian red onions
- Five cloves of garlic (but please adjust if you’re not a garlic gal or boy)
- 1/2 an inch of ginger
- Two medium-sized tomatoes
- Two medium-sized potatoes
- Seven chicken drumsticks
- One cup of water
Spices and herbs
- Turmeric
- Red chilli powder
- Madras curry powder
- Salt
- Three to four small pieces of cinnamon bark
- Two cloves of cardamom
- Two to three dried bay leaves F
- Five to six stalks of coriander
- Four green chillis (whole)
FAQ’s
Can I make this curry in either an air fryer or the oven?
Yes! I can’t guarantee you will receive the same results, but it is certainly another way of cooking the chicken. You could cook the chicken in the air fryer or bake the chicken, and then add the cooked chicken to your gravy.
Is there a way to make this recipe mild?
For sure, you can customize the amount of chilli powder you place into the recipe, or you could alternatively skip out on adding the green chillis to garnish. For a very mild curry, you could skip out on the madras curry powder.
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Authentic Bengali Chicken Curry with Potatoes (Murgir Jhol with Aloo)
This authentic Bengali chicken drumstick curry with potatoes(otherwise known as Murgir Jhol with alooo) is my childhood (and adult) favourite, and a very popular dish among Bengali households! I personally believe it is the gravy made out of a combination of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and fragrant spices cooked slowly over a low to medium heat that makes it one of my mother's best Bengali recipes.
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan you're going to want a saucepan relatively large for this, especially if you are using the same amount of chicken drumsticks.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil / olive oil either is fine! Note that the tsps are for both the curry and the potatoes
- 2 whole indian red onions
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 an inch of ginger
- 2 small sized tomatoes
- 2 medium sized potatoes
- 7 chicken drumsticks
- 1 cup water
Spices and Herbs
- 1 and ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp madras curry powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 and ½ tsp salt
- 3 small cinamon bark
- 2 cloves cardamom
- 3 leaves dried bay leaves use bengali / indian bay leaves if you can
- 6 stalks corriander
- 4 whole green chillis
Instructions
Preparation
- Cut one onion into long slices, half of an onion finely chopped and the other half roughly chopped. Make sure you seperate out these onions as they will be used for three different purposes.
- Peel and finely chop up 3 cloves of garlic
- Roughly chop two tomatoes
- Wash and peel two medium sized potatoes and chop into chunks (Medium-sized chunks).
- Finely chop your five to six stalks of coriander (or more if you really like coriander)
- Gather other ingredients together such as your cinnamon bark, cardamom, bay leaves and ginger (peel if you would prefer to use without skin).
Potatoes
- Add two tsp of oil to a pan on a medium heat
- Add in your potatoes, a tsp of salt and a tsp of turmeric
- Combine all of the ingredients well and now add in your finely chopped onions.
- Mix in well until the potatoes form a nice crisp brown outer layer, but note that the potatoes will not be cooked yet and will soften fully in the curry
- Top off with some finely chopped coriander
Curry
- Heat vegetable oil/olive oil in the pan on a medium heat.
- Add your onions (sliced long), chopped garlic and tomatoes.
- Give this a stir and allow to cook for a minute or so, still on a medium heat.
- Now add your 1 and a half tsp of salt and the relevant listed spices (turmeric, chilli powder, curry powder, garam masala powder and cumin powder).
- Let this cook off for around 3 -4 minutes on a low heat.
- Add your seven drumsticks, and mix this in with your spices. Place the lid on top and allow that to cook over a low to medium heat for around 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, crush together two cloves of garlic, a half inch of ginger (or more if you like ginger) and two cloves of cardamom.
- Once your chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, add in your crushed ginger, garlic, cardamom. Give that a good stir in.
- Next, add in your roughly chopped onions, bay leaf and cinnamon. Give this a good stir.
- Next, add in your turmeric potatoes, stir all of this together again and cover the saucepan on medium heat for about 10 - 15 minutes and until you can smell the fragrance of the herbs.
- Now, add in a cup of water, cook on high heat for seven to eight minutes and let it bubble.
- Ensure that your potatoes are soft, ready to eat.
- Let this rest for 10 minutes, before serving.
- Garnish with green chilli and coriander, as shown in the picture.
Video
@brinsbites Welcome to Part 1, of my seven part series, where I explore underappreciated south-asian gems with you. This is my mums Bengali chicken curry and I find that Bengali food doesn’t get enough love! In this series, I explore different Bengali foods, and also other hidden recipes that you wouldn’t ordinarily see represented at your Indian restuarant. #food #recipes #indianfood #recipesoftiktok #curry
♬ original sound - BrinsBites
Notes
the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
Calories: 495kcalCarbohydrates: 29gProtein: 27gFat: 30gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 122mgSodium: 160mgPotassium: 1021mgFiber: 5gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 736IUVitamin C: 35mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 3mg
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