Chicken Thakali Set

Chicken Thakali Set is a generous everyday feast with a little of every comforting Nepali flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Long-grain rice
• 1 cup Masoor or kalo dal
• 700 g Chicken, bone-in curry cut
• 2 large Onion, sliced
• 2 Tomato, chopped
• 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• 1 1/2 tsp Red chili powder
• 2 tsp and 1 tsp Coriander and cumin powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Timur (Sichuan pepper), ground
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 1 tsp Jimbu (Himalayan aromatic herb)
• 400 g Potato, cauliflower and beans, for tarkari
• 300 g Mustard greens (saag)
• 3 and 2 tbsp Tomato and sesame, for achar
• 3 Dried red chili
• 6 tbsp Mustard oil
• 1/2 cup Coriander leaves
• to taste Salt

Steps

1. Serves 2 to 3 as a full thali; work in this order so everything lands hot at the same time.
2. Put the dal on first with turmeric, a smashed garlic clove, salt and 4 cups of water, and let it simmer 30 minutes until it falls apart.
3. For the chicken, heat 3 tablespoons of mustard oil and brown the sliced onion slowly until it is genuinely dark, which is what gives Nepali kukhura ko masu its colour.
4. Add the ginger-garlic paste, then turmeric, coriander, cumin and chili powder, and fry for a minute.
5. Put in the chicken and sear it hard, then add the tomato, cover, and let it cook in its own moisture for 10 minutes before adding 2 cups of water.
6. Simmer 25 minutes until the meat pulls from the bone and the jhol thickens, then finish with garam masala and timur.
7. Set the rice to cook, and make the tarkari by frying the diced potato, cauliflower and beans with cumin and turmeric, covered, until tender.
8. Char the tomatoes over a flame and grind them with toasted sesame, garlic and dried chili for the achar.
9. Temper the dal at the last moment with jimbu and a dried chili sizzled in smoking mustard oil, and wilt the saag with garlic for barely 30 seconds so it stays green.
10. Plate rice in the centre with the chicken curry, dal, tarkari, saag and achar in bowls around it, and scatter coriander over.

Nutrition

You might also like

• Chicken Biryani
• Samay Baji
• Aloo Tama
• Bara

← All recipes