Dak bungalow chicken.
Its a colonial recipe from the days of the British. Unfortunately dak bungalow cuisine is a near forgotten culinary treasure. Dak bungalows were the rest houses of Calcutta where the British officers used to take rest on journey. Or used as a night stay during hunting trip. In these dak bungalows or rest houses a khansama or orderly used to handle the kitchen. They generally used their own chicken or goat or the animals killed in hunting to serve the officers.
The recipe is different from one dak bungalow to other depending on the availability of ingredients.
Dak bungalow chicken curry comes with whole boiled and fried eggs and potatoes in it and freshly ground spices.
A very flavourful dish which needs only two steps marinade and then cook. The original recipe of chicken dak bungalow was chicken roast. Which is very light on spices and could be cooked with minimal ingredients and shortest of time. But these days chicken dak bungalow is much spicier and with more gravy.
I have made this chicken dak bungalow in my own way. Generally coriander powder is used in it but I have used cumin powder in it. You can use coriander powder if you like.
I have made a rich and spicier version of chicken dak bungalow.
Recipe
Chicken pieces – 1 kg
Onions – 4 large
Garlic – 6 – 7 cloves
Tomatoes – 4 large
Oil – 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar – 1 teaspoon optional
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Green chilli – 3 – 4 or to taste
Green cardamom – 4 -5
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
Cloves – 4
Mace or javitri – 2 string
Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 tablespoons
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon or as per your spice tolerance
Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
Eggs – 4 – 6
Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon
For marinate
Salt
Mustard oil – 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
Curd – 1/2 cup
Garam masala powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Method
Marinate the chicken pieces with salt, mustard oil, turmeric powder, cumin powder, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, pepper powder, garam masala powder and curd. Keep it in refrigerator for 1 – 2 hour or overnight.
Finely chop 2 onions. Make a paste of remaining 2 onions, ginger and garlic. Keep it aside.
Grind the tomatoes with green chillies, cardamom, mace, cloves and cinnamon. You can use the whole spices in tempering too.
Peel the boiled eggs and pierce with a knife. Marinate with salt and turmeric powder and keep aside. I didn’t use potatoes but if you are using potatoes peel and marinate some whole small potatoes or chopped large potatoes with salt and turmeric powder. Fry the potatoes and eggs separately and keep aside.
Heat mustard oil in a nonstick pan. Fry the marinated chicken pieces and keep aside.
In the same oil add the chopped onion and sugar. Fry till the onion becomes brown. Add the onion, garlic and ginger paste. Saute till oil leaves the sides.
Now add the tomato, green chilli, cardamom, mace or javitri, cinnamon and cloves paste. Saute and add salt cumin powder, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder. Saute till oil leaves the sides.
Now add the fried chicken pieces. Mix well.
Add remaining spices of marination and water as require to make gravy. Add the fried potatoes and eggs. Cover and cook until the chicken and potatoes are becomes soft.
Taste and adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle garam masala powder and switch off the flame.
Garnish with chopped cilantro, sliced onions and green chilli.
Serve hot with steamed rice, roti or Indian flat bread, paratha, puri or luchi.
So delicious!
Thanks Freda dear 😍
Yummy!!
Thank you so much 😊
Gravy sounds so delicious!
Thanks a lot. I am glad you like it 😊
😊:)
Chicken Dak Bunglow With hot steaming rice ….oh Boy I can almost get that aroma !!Thank you
You are most welcome. Thank you so much for your encouraging words 😊
Very well explained.. Awesome dish
Thank you so much 😊
Hi Sujata
I’m Savio from mapusa Goa.
Just went through your recipe for dak bungalow chicken. It is truly a very awesome and delicious 😋 yummy recipe.
Im very eager to make this wonderful dish.
By the way, if I want to add coriander powder, do I have to add 1 teaspoon or more. Then should I omit adding cumin powder or should I add the cumin powder also. Please let me know.
How much water is needed to make the gravy.
The picture itself of the dak bungalow chicken made my mouth water. It is truly a very rich and nice recipe.
Sujata, please also post a nice spicy rich mutton masala recipes in restaurant style, with rich and loads of thick gravy.
Looking forward to your yummy recipes.
All the bestest to you.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
Savio.
Thanks a lot for your lovely words. I am glad you liked my recipe. If you want to add coriander powder then you can add 1 teaspoon. Add cumin powder too for the flavour. Add water as much you like gravy. Better make thick gravy.
Yes sure I will try to post a mutton masala recipe. You can check my railway mutton recipe. Its also a rich and flavourful dish.
Thanks again 😊
thank you very much Sujata
You are most welcome 😊
You can get two spicy mutton recipes in my blog. Railway mutton and Rara mutton. Hope you will like them 😊
I prepared your yummy dak bungalow chicken curry and liked it so much that I’m going to prepare it again for the weekend.
Your recipe for dak bungalow chicken curry is the very bestest recipe in the world and so I will always prepare this most precious for a lifetime.
This is the best authentic spicy rich thick gravy recipe I have ever seen. Will preserve all your recipes like a treasure.
Please post more chicKen recipes in thick rich gravies and I’m eagerly awaiting your spicy mutton masala recipes made in restaurant style. Please also post some nice spicy chicken biryani recipes too.
All the very bestest to you Sujata.
Thanks a lot Savio. Glad you liked it. I will try to post some more mutton and chicken dishes for sure. Please try my rara mutton. Hope you will like it. Thanks again for your lovely words ☺️☺️
Hi Sujata,
I prepared your yummy 😋 chicken dak bungalow curry the fourth time and it always turned out super delicious and great. Everyone at home liked your delicious dish.
Sujata, please post the spicy rich mutton masala in restaurant style, with red masala and also one recipe with green masala.
Please post more mutton and chicken curry recipes and also rich spicy muslim style chicken and mutton biryani. Also a fish and prawns biryani but without curd. As I heard that curd should never be mixed with seafood.
Looking forward eagerly for the above recipes.
Please also include some authentic traditional goan nonveg recipes. Grandmothers recipes.
Thanks and great regards.
Savio Francis Dsouza.
Mapusa Goa.
Thank you so much Savio for your lovely words. I will try to post non veg recipes again from next month. Til then please try my rara mutton recipe. Its also a spicy and delicious dish. You can also find some fish recipes in my blog without curd. Waiting for your feedback on rara mutton 😊
Hi Sujata,
I prepared your rara mutton today and it turned out great, very rich and delicious.
Enjoyed it with nice hot chapatis, slices of onions and wedges of lemon.
The Bestest recipe I ever had.
Thanks so much.
Eagerly awaiting your recipes I requested for.
Thanks and great regards,
Savio Francis Dsouza from mapusa Goa.
Thanks a lot Savio for your feedback. Sure I will post all the recipes of your choice from next month. Thanks again. You made my day 😊
Thanks so much sujata.
Eagerly awaiting your recipes.
Please also include some authentic kolhapuri mutton and chicken recipes made with rich red thick spicy gravy and also rich rogan josh.
As always your recipes are very easy to follow and extremely delicious.
Your recipes turn out exactly the same as you post, unlike other websites they show you one nice image of a chicken curry but it turns out not the same as posted.
Your recipes are the most very Bestest and I will religiously follow only your recipes for life time.
All the very very Bestest to you sujata.
Thanks a lot Savio. You really made my day. I will surely try my best to make all the recipes you mentioned 😊
Please do try my chicken chaap. Its a hit among my guests.
Hi Sujata,
I prepared your yummy and delicious spicy dak bungalow chicken for the weekend. Turned out great and awesome as ever. Goes very well with pulao or soft chapathis.
Your recipe for dak bungalow chicken is the most tastiest I’ve ever had. Nice and spicy thick gravy. Just love it.
Thanks for sharing such a Wow recipe.
Please post some nice spicy rich mutton masala recipes in restaurant style. Chicken peshawari and more.
Eagerly awaiting all the recipes I’ve asked for.
All the very Bestest to you.
Thanks a lot for your lovely words!