Odisha’s Mustard Chicken

Name: Odisha’s Mustard Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 20 g/¾oz yellow mustard seeds; Juice of ½ a lemon; 2 tbsp neutral oil; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder; 1 tsp ginger garlic paste; ½ tsp salt; ½ tsp onion seeds (nigella seeds); ½ tsp onion seeds (nigella seeds); ½ tsp fennel seeds; ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds; ½ tsp mustard seeds; 1–2 green chillies, sliced/chopped (optional); ½ tsp cumin seeds; Salt, to taste; ½ tsp sugar; 2 tbsp plain yogurt; 200 ml/7fl oz/scant 1 cup warm water; 2 tomatoes, chopped, or 200g canned chopped tomatoes; 2 tomatoes, chopped, or 200g canned chopped tomatoes; 2 white onions, finely chopped; 6–7 garlic cloves, grated; 500 g/1 lb 2 oz skinless chicken breasts, cut into medium pieces; 4 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tsp sugar; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 1 cm/½in piece of root ginger; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 1 tbsp coriander seeds; ¼ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Besara

Preparation info

Serves:
4

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
40 min

Appears in

No Worries, Just Chicken Curries

By Suki Pantal

Published 2025

About

This dish comes from the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India along the Bay of Bengal. It is renowned for its stunning natural beauty, with its pristine beaches, rivers, waterfalls and forest-clad blue hills of the Eastern Ghats.

Besara is typically a vegetable-based dish, characterized by its use of mustard paste. Mustard oil and mustard seeds are used a lot in the cuisine, and sometimes their use in the sauce is enough to brand it as “besara”. Fish besara is a popular di

Ingredients

Asia
India
Odisha
Main course
Gluten-free

Ingredients

Method