C46 Chicken Begum Bahar

The origin of this curry could be Lucknow in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (the cuisine of which was influenced by the Persian Mughals) or even Bengal. Begum (Begun, Beguni) may refer to aubergine (Bengali origin). Bahar is a city in Iran (formerly Persia) but whether that is a reference to its Persian origin is unclear. It is to be found on some curry house menus but there seems to be no definitive recipe although lamb mince and aubergine are common inclusions.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
3 tbspn oil	1 tbspn tomato purée
30 gm onion (prepared weight)	1 portion c41 pre-cooked chicken
1 tspn ginger (grated)	20 gm c41 pre-cooked lamb mince
1 tspn garlic (crushed)	¼ tspn salt
2 tspn tandoori masala spice mix (see note 1)	20 gm mushrooms
1 tspn amchoor powder (see note 2)	20 gm red/green/yellow peppers
½ - 1 tspn chilli powder	70 gm raw un-cooked aubergine
300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 3)	1 - 2 tbspn freshly chopped coriander
	1 - 2 tspn lemon juice

Preparation

Chop the onion.
Grate the ginger, crush the garlic and mix together with a little water to make a paste.
Chop the red/green/yellow peppers (any combination you choose) into smallish pieces (approx 1 cm pieces or less).
Chop the mushrooms into smallish pieces (approx 1 cm cubes or less).
Chop the fresh coriander.
Chop 70 gm of aubergine into about 1 inch cubes (skin on) and grill, turning regularly, until tender and toasted - the weight will reduce during cooking.

Cooking - 8½ min

Heat the oil in a suitable pan and fry the onion, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
Add the tandoori masala spice mix, amchoor powder and chilli powder and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying and burning.
Add the tomato purée and 40 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying.
Add the c41 pre-cooked chicken, c41 pre-cooked lamb mince, salt, mushrooms, peppers, aubergines and 80 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Reduce the heat and stir in the freshly chopped coriander and cook, stirring regularly, for 1 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Stir in the lemon juice and serve.

Serving

Serve with rice and garnish with a little freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Tandoori Masala can be purchased at many supermarkets and any Indian outlet.
(2) Amchoor is powdered mango and has a 'sharp' taste. (it is used but not shown in the ingredient picture.) It can be purchased at some supermarkets and any Indian outlet.
(3) Dilute the c46 base sauce with 100 ml of water and heat before use.

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