It’s chicken ‘dak’ bungalow and not a ‘duck’ bungalow. Unlike what many think, chicken dak bungalow has nothing to do with duck eggs. And one cannot claim to have an authentic recipe for this particular dish. It is also one of those dishes that came out from colonial times and is much loved even today.
The origin of Chicken Dak Bungalow
No, it’s not a colonial hangover. Still, there are many beautiful recipes that came from general experiments during colonial times that became part of mainstay Kolkata cuisine or Bengali cuisine. One such dish is the chicken dak bunglow curry. In the past, there weren’t many hotels or homestays in different parts of the country. However, the country, and especially the interiors always had dak banglas, meaning postal rest houses. Government officials travelling would stay in those rest houses. And these bungalows were manned by a caretaker and his family.
Markets weren’t close by and there was always country chicken roaming around in these rest houses. So the chicken curry cooked by these caretakers in wood wood-fired oven eventually became our chicken dak bungalow. The specific characteristics of this curry are the use of country chicken, whole duck eggs or chicken eggs, and whole spices that were ground to a paste. So, it would be difficult to pinpoint the most authentic recipe, since there is no standardization of this. Each one made it their way.
This is my style chicken dak bungalow that has been much appreciated. Sonia from our instagram account has mentioned an interesting fact- ‘I read somewhere really long ago that in Bengal, The dak bungalow cooks used to add a paste of Radhuni while cooking the poultry or mutton !!! Although I cannot claim to have tasted the original, I made mine with Radhuni added to the ingredients and my baba who is now a retired central government officer vouched for it…’
Here are a few other eggplants recipes that you may like:
- Robibarer Murgir Jhol– Sunday Chicken Curry
- Murgir Dom- Slow Cooked Chicken Curry
- Posto Murgi- Chicken Curry with Poppy Seed Paste
- Goan Chicken Vindaloo
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Chicken Dak Bungalow | Chicken Dak Bunglow
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 country chicken
marinade
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 heaped tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ cup thick yoghurt
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- salt to taste
Spice Paste
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 black cardamom
- 3-4 green cardamoms
- 4-5 cloves
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 3 dried Kashmiri red chilies
- 10 garlic cloves
- ½ inch ginger
- water as needed
Other Ingredients
- 5 boiled eggs
- 5 medium sized potatoes
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp red chili powder
For Tempering
- 10 whole black pepper
- 1 large onion finely sliced
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 split green chilies
- 4 tbsp mustard oil
Instructions
- Marinade one whole country chicken cut into 8-10pcs with the ingredients mentioned in the marinade. Keep for 4-6 hours.
- To make the spice paste, heat oil and lightly roast all the ingredients mentioned and then make a paste using a little water.
- Before cooking, make sure your spice paste is ready and the marinated chicken is in room temperature.
- In the same frying pan, lightly fry the boiled eggs and the whole potatoes (same size as the eggs), after sprinkling with salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder over them.
- As soon as the eggs have a little golden coat, take them out and cover and let the potatoes cook for 5-6 minutes more on low heat.
- After that take the frying pan and keep it off the heat.
- In a kadai, heat mustard oil and add whole black pepper pods.
- Then add sliced onions. Fry on medium heat till the onions have started to turn pink and translucent.
- Then add the spice paste and continue cooking the spice paste for 5-6 minutes. After that, add the marinated chicken pcs and all the left over marinade with half cup of water. Fry this on high heat for5-6 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, and then cover and let the potatoes and chicken cook on low heat till everything is fully cooked.
- Finally, add salt if needed, ½ tsp of sugar, 4-5 split green chilies, and a little more water (if needed) and then simmer this till oil starts to float on top.
- Add the eggs in the end and serve with pulao or rice.
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