Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Chicken in Mushroom sauce

Indian cuisine is infused with aromatic spices and masalas. Our palette is also used to the hot and spicy taste. However at times I find it a refreshing change to have something milder. Something that doesn't have the rich red colour of butter chicken, the distinct flavour of cumin or coriander, the crunchiness of the onions or the tartness of tomatoes.

This chicken and mushroom recipe is simple yet tasty. Be sure to use fresh button mushrooms. The tinned ones are soaked in brine and they don’t have the freshness or flavour of those milky white mushrooms. 

Whenever I am dicing up a whole chicken I ensure that I use the leftover bones, wings and neck pieces to prepare some chicken broth. They are handy while making chicken soup and also in dishes like these. If I have no immediate use of the broth I simply freeze it and use it later.

To make chicken broth I pressure cook chicken pieces, one chopped onion, some carrot if I have any, few black peppercorns, one black cardamom, little bit of javitri(mace)and some salt to taste. Turn off heat after 2 whistles, strain and cool.

Baked Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

½ kg boneless chicken, cubed

Butter, salt and pepper to taste

Mushroom sauce

500 gm fresh button mushrooms, sliced thin

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp parsley (dry parsley is available in most departmental stores)

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

¼ cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Marinate the chicken with salt, pepper and butter for half an hour. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is baking prepare your mushroom sauce. Remember the chicken and sauce should be ready at the same time.

 Melt 1 tbsp butter. Sauté the mushrooms. Keep aside.

Melt the rest of the butter. Add the flour, pepper and nutmeg. Keep stirring on low heat. Once the flour starts changing colour remove from heat and add milk add broth. If you add milk while the pan is on the flame it will start forming lumps. Beat well to mix the flour and milk properly. If you see that lumps are already forming just give it a whizzz in the mixer. Now put it back on flame to cook so that the raw taste of flour is no longer there. If the mixture thickens too much you can add some more milk or broth.

Now add the chicken and parsley.

Transfer the whole thing to a baking dish and bake again for 15 minutes. The dish is best eaten warm.