Hariyali Chicken

I ate this after almost 30 years. I have been craving these flavors for almost 3 decades and finally found the recipe which my taste buds remembered. A recipe was shared on a food group that I am part of and I thought I would give it a try.  I made some modifications to suit my needs and it turned out to be delicious. This recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients

1 chicken breast

4 green chilies

10 mint leaves

fist full of cilantro

2 tsp oil

salt to taste

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp dhania powde

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 cup of greek fat free yogurt 

lemon juice (optional. if the yogurt is tart, the juice is not necessary) 

Method

Cooked the cilantro and mint leaves in 2 tsp of oil and puréed them. Then added 1/2 tsp each of jeera, dhania, garlic and 1/4 cup of Greek fat free yogurt. This is the marinade. Taste this and then add salt. I didn't add turmeric. Made cuts into the breast so that the marinade goes through and marinated the breast for 24 hours in the fridge.
(There was enough marinade to also marinate paneer and vegetables in separate containers)

In a pan, added a tsp of oil and heated the pan. Meanwhile cut the breast into bite sized pieces. And then added the chicken pieces to the pan along with the marinade. Turned the pieces to cook them externally and then covered the pan for a few minutes. Cook till the chicken pieces look cooked (also check temperature with a thermometer for 165F) and turned off the heat immediately. Since it is chicken breast, turn off the heat as soon as the chicken is cooked. If you crisp it up or brown it like it would in a grill, it will become tough. Turned out tender and juicy.

Tips

You can also grill this. If so, then use chicken thighs as they will not dry out as quickly as the chicken breast.