Yen Thongba | Manipuri Chicken Curry

Yen Thongba 

Yen Thongba is a flavourful Manipuri chicken curry, which is deliciously spicy and beautifully infused with fresh culantro leaves making it very refreshing. This Meitei chicken curry is prepared with various Indian spices and has influence from mainland India unlike most Manipuri recipes. The chicken is tender, the potatoes adds a mushy texture while the gravy aromatic ; the dish is not only beautiful to look at but delectable too and goes well with rice and puris.

Ingredients

• Chicken 600 gms
• Salt as per taste
• Turmeric powder 1 tsp
• Ginger 2inch ginger
• Garlic 10 to 12 cloves
• Onion 2 sliced 
• Green chilli 10 slit into halves
• Potato 3 chopped into halves
• Bay leaf 2
• Cumin powder 1.5tsp
• Coriander powder 1.5tsp
• Culantro 5-10 leaves
• Cinnamon 2inch stick
• Fennel seeds 1tsp
• Cardamom 6 pods
• Tomato 2 finely chopped
• Oil 5 tbsp

Ingredients for Yen Thongba

Preparation

1. First of all take a mortar and pestle then at the green chillies, ginger and garlic cloves - coarsely pounded them into a smooth paste.
2. Now take the cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods in a mortar; pound it into a smooth paste and keep aside.
3. Take the chicken pieces in a bowl and add salt, turmeric powder and the crushed ginger-garlic-chilli paste. Mix it well and let it marinate for 30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a pan, add the potatoes and lightly fry them until golden. Take them off the pan and keep aside.
5. Now in the same pan, add the bay leaf and fry for a minute on allow flame to let the flavour infuse into the oil.
6. Add the fennel seeds and let it splutter. 
7. Add the onion paste and fry it until it starts turning brown.
8. Now add the marinated chicken and fry on a medium flame until the oil begins to separate.
9. Add the chop tomatoes and fried potatoes, which we had kept aside. Stir it well and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes occasionally stirring in between.
10. Now its time to add the cardamon and cinnamon powder we pounded earlier. Stir it well and then add one cup of water. Give it a stir, cover and cook it for 30 minutes until the meat is tender.
11. Once the gravy achieves the consistency of choice turn off the heat.
12. Finally add the chopped culantro leaves over the dish and cover the lid so that the flavour gets infused to the dish.
13. Serve it hot with rice or bread of your choice.

Note: 

• Culantro or Eryngium foetid is a tropical perennial herb and it is found in abundant in North East India. Many people call it wild coriander leaves.
• You can replace culantro with cilantro or coriander leaves.

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