Recipe for Lagan Chicken
What is unique about Lagan Chicken
Marinated Chicken curry, simmered and cooked using special cookware called a ‘Lagan’ gives this popular recipe its unique name. Lagan is a wide aluminium saucepan widely used for cooking in India. The wide base of the vessel helps to evenly cook the curry gravy on slow flame.
Ingredients for Lagan Chicken
Ingredients for the marinade:
- Chicken leg pieces – 1/2 kg
- Ginger-garlic paste – 2 1/2 tablespoons
- Turmeric- 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt to taste
- Red Chilli powder– 2 1/2 tablespoons
- Oil – 2 tablespoons
- Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
- Garam Masala Powder ½ teaspoon
Ingredients for the gravy:
- Oil – 2 tablespoons
- Ginger garlic paste – 2 teaspoon
- Onions – 3 finely chopped
- Tomato purée concentrate – 2 tablespoons
- Garam masala powder -11/2 teaspoon
- Salt to taste
- Red Chilli Powder to taste
- Green chillies – 2-3 finely chopped (optional)
Ingredients for tempering:
- Cinnamon sticks – 1-inch stick
- Cloves – 1-2 cloves
- Black cardamom – 2 pods
- Shahi Zeera – 1 teaspoon
Method
Start by marinating the chicken pieces with turmeric, ginger- garlic paste, salt and red chilli powder and lemon juice. Set it aside for 1-3 hours in the refrigerator.
The next step would be to temper around 3 tablespoons of oil taken in the Lagan (Wide saucepan) with the whole spices listed above. Reduce the flame to low heat while adding the spices to ensure that the aroma of the spices is not lost.
Now add the marinade that was set aside into the spiced-up oil and mix well with a ladle.
Cover the Lagan with the lid to allow the aromas of the spices chicken to simmer on low flame for 10 minutes. By doing so we are allowing the aromas of the spices to fuse in with the chicken and allow the chicken to turn tender and juicy.
In the meantime, as the chicken gets cooked, we would start to prepare the gravy for the chicken.
For this take 2 tablespoons of oil and add the finely chopped onions, cook them till they turn translucent. At this point add 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste, 1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala and 2 teaspoons of tomato purée and mix well.
Allow this gravy to simmer on low heat for approximately minutes 5 minutes.
After the gravy gets cooked add this gravy to the chicken in Lagan, mix well, so the chicken curry and the gravy are mixed to get a uniform curry.
Leave the curry on low flame and keep mixing the curry until the curry attains a darker colour and starts to leave the oil. It’s vital to cook the chicken and gravy for about 5-10 minutes on low flame.
You need to serve this curry hot with Naan, Roti or Flavoured Yellow Rice. We generally serve it directly in the Lagan as we cook it in smaller Lagan.
The beauty of using a Lagan or a wide saucepan is to cook the
chicken evenly. The large surface area of the Lagan helps in uniform
distribution of heat and continues slow flame and string of the chicken curry give it’s a very unique colour and its truly tasty.
1) Can we make similar recipe with Lamb ?
A > Yes the recipe can be made in Lamb
2) Can we get actual Lagan in UK
A> Use wider pan instead, as Lagan exactly mean wider pan.
This wide saucepan should be best suitable for Lagan, this helps in evenly spreading of heat and the chicken legs are cooked on the same heat.