Carom Chicken

Carom seeds give a distinctive flavor to chicken. Quantity of carom seeds can be adjusted according to your own taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 Boneless and skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• ½ cup fresh yogurt
• 1 tsp corn flour
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tsp chicken curry powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• ¾ tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• Cilantro leaves for garnishing

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add carom seeds, chicken, ginger garlic paste, curry powder, garam masala and salt. Cover, and simmer for about 20 - 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender.
• In a bowl mix yogurt, sour cream, corn flour and ½ cup water to form a smooth paste. Add this to the chicken and simmer without lid for about 4-5 minutes. Now mix in lemon juice.
• Garnish with boiled stuffed eggs. For this cut each egg lengthwise in to two. Fill egg with sour cream. Sprinkle salt, pepper powder and a pinch of roasted carom seeds over the eggs.
• Serve hot with roti or paratha.

Do You Know?

Raw ajwain smells almost exactly like thyme because it also contains thymol, but is more aromatic and less subtle in taste, as well as slightly bitter and pungent. Even a small amount of raw ajwain will completely dominate the flavor of a dish.

In Indian cuisine, ajwain is almost never used raw, but either dry-roasted or fried in ghee or oil. This develops a much more subtle and complex aroma, somewhat similar to caraway but "brighter".