isithalal.food · Recipes

Bengali roast chicken with Halal chicken

Afia Begom's Bengali 'roosht': Halal chicken pieces marinated in yogurt and spices, fried golden in ghee, then finished in an onion, garlic and ginger masala with whole spices, green chillies and coriander.

Bangladeshi · Main · Easy · 4–6 chicken pieces · 90 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The dish is built on 4 to 6 bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Chicken: Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides, and chicken without a Halal mark doesn't say how the bird was slaughtered. Buy the chicken from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.

Ingredients

Marinade

• 4–6 Halal bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks, flesh scored
• 1 tsp mild curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt

Masala

• 5 tbsp ghee or oil
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 large cinnamon sticks
• 3 cardamom pods
• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp mild curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 200 ml water
• 5 green chillies, sliced, to serve
• to serve chopped coriander, to serve

Method

1. Marinate. Put the chicken in a bowl, add the marinade spices, yogurt and ½ tsp salt and mix well. Leave it to marinate for a few hours, which the source says makes it more tender, or cook straight away.
2. Brown the chicken. Melt the ghee in a non-stick frying pan and fry the chicken for 5 minutes on each side until golden. Lift it back into the bowl, leaving the ghee in the pan.
3. Start the masala. Keep the pan on the heat and scrape up the caramelised bits. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom and fry until aromatic. Add the onions and garlic, then the ginger and 1 to 1½ tsp salt. Stir, cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
4. Cook the spices. Stir in the remaining spices and fry over a low heat for 5 to 8 minutes. Add the 200 ml water, cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more, until the ghee separates from the masala and bubbles around the edge of the pan.
5. Finish. Return the chicken and its juices to the pan, spoon some of the masala over, cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Stir through the green chillies and coriander and serve straight away.

Allergens

milk (yogurt, ghee)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Bengali roast chicken' by Afia Begom of Afelia's Kitchen (serves 6: 4 to 6 bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks, scored, marinated with 1 tsp each mild curry powder, turmeric and ground coriander, 2 tbsp Greek yogurt and ½ tsp salt, for a few hours or cooked straight away; fried 5 minutes a side in 5 tbsp ghee or oil and set aside; 3 bay leaves, 2 large cinnamon sticks and 3 cardamom pods fried in the same ghee until aromatic; 2 large finely sliced onions, 6 sliced garlic cloves, 1 tsp grated ginger and 1 to 1½ tsp salt covered and cooked 8 to 10 minutes; 2 tsp mild curry powder, 1 tsp each cumin, coriander and turmeric and ½ tsp chilli powder fried 5 to 8 minutes over a low heat; 200 ml water, covered 3 to 4 minutes until the ghee separates; the chicken and juices returned, covered and cooked 10 to 15 minutes; 5 sliced green chillies and chopped coriander stirred through). The source describes it as a popular starter among Bangladeshis, served at feasts and weddings. We specified Halal chicken; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph of chicken karahi from Wikimedia Commons, not the finished dish from this recipe.