This authentic and easy Kolkata chicken stew recipe will give you a taste of old Calcutta – the City of Joy. Unlike other rich and heavy Indian curries, a Bengali chicken stew is light, brothy, and delicately spiced. Due to its origin at ‘cabin‘, small roadside eateries along the city lanes, it is also known as “Calcutta cabin style Chicken Stew”.

This hearty and comforting chicken stew brings the city’s Anglo-Indian heritage right onto our dinner table. It is a perfect blend of the European stewing process and the use of Indian spices and aromatics. This fusion of culinary trends is evident in this recipe, which features large chunks of vegetables. To make this dish better suited to the local climate, heavy cream and butter were replaced by a light broth spiced with Indian spices such as peppercorns, bay leaf, and cloves. Such adaptations made this chicken stew a comforting and easily digestible meal when served with toasted bread. So, let’s get making this near-authentic Calcutta cabin-style stew!

Table of Contents

Ingredients for Kolkata Chicken Stew

500 gms Chicken – on bone, curry cut
2 nos. Carrots – cut into thick chunks
2 nos. Potatoes – cut into thick chunks
2 cups Raw Green Papaya – cut into thick chunks
2 nos. Onion – medium – quartered
2 inches of Ginger
5-6 cloves of Garlic
1 tsp Peppercorns – freshly crushed
6 Cloves
2 Bayleaves
2 tsp Corn flour
1 tbsp of Oil
Salt to taste
1 Lemon

Kolkata Cabin style Chicken stew ingredients

Recipe instructions

Prep the Chicken: Place the washed chicken pieces in a mixing bowl. Add the ginger-garlic paste, salt, coarsely crushed peppercorns, and cloves, and the juice of one lemon to it.
Prep the Vegetables: Peel and chop up the vegetables for the stew and keep them aside.
Cook the stew: Heat some oil in a pressure cooker and add some whole peppercorns, cloves, and bay leaves. As they sizzle, add the marinated chicken pieces along with the chopped vegetables. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes until the chicken changes colour slightly.
Pour in the water, enough to cover the chicken and vegetables. Close the pressure cooker lid and let it cook till you get 2-3 whistles on high heat. Turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
If using a soup pot or kadhai, allow the vegetables and chicken to simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the carrot and papaya are fork-tender. Those two would take the longest to cook, longer than chicken, in fact.
Check for seasoning: Remove the pressure cooker lid and check the seasoning. Turn on the heat once again.
Prepare a cornflour slurry and drop it gently into the stew. Give it a good mix before serving.

Serving suggestions

Traditionally, this Kolkata chicken stew is almost always served with buttered toast, thick slices of toasted white bread, generously slathered with butter. Thus making it perfect to be dipped into the mildly spiced, flavourful broth of this delicious stew.

Apart from this, we love to pair this chicken stew with a steaming bowl of rice. This is a match made in heaven for those who are rice lovers!

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Kolkata Cabin-style Chicken Stew

Priyanka

This authentic and easy Kolkata chicken stew recipe is light, brothy, and delicately spiced. It is comforting and easily digestible meal when served with toasted bread.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Bengali

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

500 gms Chicken – on bone curry cut
2 nos. Carrots – cut into thick chunks
2 nos. Potatoes – cut into thick chunks
2 cups Raw Green Papaya – cut into thick chunks
2 nos. Onion – medium – quartered
2 inches Ginger
5-6 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Peppercorns – freshly crushed
6 Cloves
2 Bayleaves
2 tsp Corn flour
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
1 Lemon

Instructions

Prep the Chicken: Place the washed chicken pieces in a mixing bowl. Add the ginger-garlic paste, salt, coarsely crushed peppercorns, and cloves, and the juice of one lemon to it.
500 gms Chicken, 2 inches Ginger, 5-6 cloves Garlic, 1 tsp Peppercorns, Salt to taste, 1 Lemon, 6 Cloves
Prep the Vegetables: Peel and chop up the vegetables for the stew and keep them aside.
2 nos. Carrots, 2 nos. Potatoes, 2 cups Raw Green Papaya, 2 nos. Onion
Cook the stew: Heat some oil in a pressure cooker and add some whole peppercorns, cloves, and bay leaves. As they sizzle, add the marinated chicken pieces along with the chopped vegetables. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes until the chicken changes colour slightly.
1 tbsp Oil, 2 Bayleaves
Pour in the water, enough to cover the chicken and vegetables. Close the pressure cooker lid and let it cook till you get 2-3 whistles on high heat. Turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
If using a soup pot or kadhai, allow the vegetables and chicken to simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the carrot and papaya are fork-tender. Those two would take the longest to cook, longer than chicken, in fact.
Check for seasoning: Remove the pressure cooker lid and check the seasoning. Turn on the heat once again.
Prepare a cornflour slurry and drop it gently into the stew. Give it a good mix before serving.
2 tsp Corn flour