Junglee Murgh (Priyadarshini's recipe)

Junglee Murgh (Priyadarshini's recipe) 

I thought November would be a month I shall relax. Well what you anticipate and what actually  happens in life can sometimes differ greatly. Its not always bad , in fact here are some great bits of news.

So after a crazed work schedule till the first week of November the parents visited us in Mumbai since the husband will be off to South Africa for research work for a good 2 years. So sooner had I finished this massive Project there was celebration with the parents and sightseeing in Bombay can be beautiful if you enjoy classic architecture but the travel can wring you of all your energy. Well once they were gone I thought I would relax a bit but then there is back to back work and I am not really complaining because to be honest I love work. In between all this work I met my good friend Claudia and then a week later it was a gathering of friends . I finally met Gungun from Sinfully Your's and what a lovely day it was.

On top of all of this Kolkata Food Bloggers' is conducting its ongoing Project of 'Know Your Blogger Part II' where each week we choose a member and each participating members, recreates the member's recipe.

This week the star is my good friend and the most creative food blogger I know, Priyadarshini from 'Lets Talk Food' What you need to know about this gorgeous lady is that she is a creative rebel. I mean she puts her own creative touch in every dish that she posts about and this is not the first time that I have followed her recipe. Previously I tried out her 'Kancha Lanka Murgi', this lip smacking Chicken dish from Bengal cooked with loads of Green chilies and it was out of this world.

So when it comes to selecting a recipe I usually try and find one which suits my needs of the time. So this time I was in Bombay with a husband who follows the green diet and I am personally on a high protein, extremely low carbohydrate with lots of vegetables diet but the good news is since I exercise I can have fat in controlled portions.

I'l be honest I mostly chose her Junglee Murgh which literally translates to Wild chicken due to the reigning flavour of garlic and chilies two of my favourite ingredients and the fact that its cooked in pure clarified butter. Here is the thing with Most North Indian food and clarified butter. Ghee makes every dish better which is why these days I cook these recipes rarely but when I do so I use what was originally intended for it and the results are just unbelievably good.

 I must say that since this recipe uses very few ingredients modifying it would simply ruin the taste. The best part is that it being dry it makes the perfect appetizer and if you are on a diet you can just team it with some salad on the side or a spicy spinach paste like I did.

Now here is a crucial part, working with chicken breasts can be very tricky so read on to make sure you never again end up with dry chicken. If you follow the steps I guarantee that you will always get soft succulent chicken breasts.

Now here is another good news before I finally share the recipe with my good readers,We The Kolkata Food Bloggers proudly present a Bake Sale on the 13th of December 2014 and I would have a small stall which I am sharing with Pritha from 'Guilt-Free' and it gives me great pleasure to invite all of you to drop in.

So here comes the recipe

Serves 1 to 2

380gm of Boneless cubed  Chicken
2 tsp minced garlic
7 to8 Dried red chilies (preferably the ones from Rajasthan'
2 tbsp unmelted ghee
Salt as per taste
3 Fenugreek seeds
2 to 3 Black peppercorn

Simply heat the ghee and garlic together. This step ensures that your garlic doesn't burn at all in the end.

Once you get the aroma of garlic filling your kitchen add the chilies, peppercorn and fenugreek and finally the chicken , add some salt and seal  its juices on high heat for a few seconds on each side. Now is the tricky part. You see chicken breasts are very delicate and if cooked for too long it turns dry and stringy. So now your lower the heat and cover and cook for 5 minutes to 7 minutes. Open the cover and cook for another minute or 2 till it becomes dry.

Now is a very crucial part to end up with moist juicy chicken. Cover and let it rest for a good 15 minutes before you dig in.

Enjoy this lip-smacking dish.

This is part of : -

Malvani Murgh

Malvani Murgh 

Its hot spicy and coco-nutty 

I believe there is nothing better in this world than the exchange of recipes for its not just ingredients and processes sometimes you get your hands on someone's heirloom recipe and I believe a recipe as as much value as any other historical item because it upholds the culture and lives of real people. And once you get a recipe from a faraway land you might just surprise yourself by finding a subtle similarity with something close home.

Take the beautiful Western coast of India. Its green , its where the hills  meet the sea and then there is that lovely Konkani cuisine, well I visited Malvan a tiny place in the southern most tip of Maharashtra, a coastal town with a slow paced life, smiling people, virgin beaches which are cleaner than most commercial beaches in India and thick spicy hot curries with that delightful taste of coconuts.

It is usually the Southern cuisine that we associate coconuts with but you see being born in one of the few states which can boast of a coastline , mountains , mangrove swamps and forests Bengali cuisine has its way of imparting coconuts. We usually use grated coconut in all our special curries but then there is that distinct difference which makes each cuisine unique for though we love adding grated coconut to vegetarian dishes when it comes to non vegetarian dishes other than the 'Chingri macher malai Kari' Lobsters cooked in a gravy of coconut we usually shy away from using coconut in our non vegetarian curries.

Anyway coming back to the delightful Malvani curry thanks to Meena Phatke I have this wonderful Malvani Chicken recipe which is her mother's recipe and with enough freshly grated coconut at home I decided I must 'strike the iron while it is hot'

So here is a recipe for 2 one that is spicy hot and coconutty

300gm chicken with bones
2 tsp smooth ginger garlic paste
Salt as per taste

For the Malvani essence

8 to 10 dried red chilies the hot variant
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 large onion
1.5 cup of grated coconut (cups which hold 200ml liquid)
6 to 7 cloves
20 black peppercorn
Half an inch cinnamon
2 tbsp oil (I used refined oil . You may use coconut oil or peanut oil or even sesame oil)
1.5 cups of water (cup that  holds 200ml of liquid)
Pinch of turmeric

Simply marinate your chicken pieces in the ginger garlic paste with a pinch of salt and let it marinate for 1 hour to 2 hours.

In the meantime slice the onion and fry it in 1 tbsp oil. The trick is to keep the flame to low and cover the wok so that your onion softens and browns and you do not use too much of oil. Once the onion turns mildly pinkish brown let it cool down. Now dry roast the dry spices and once the fried onion has cooled down blend the onion, coconut and dry spices.

Now heat 1 tbsp oil and add the marinated chicken and seal the juices on high flame for 2 minutes and then add the beautiful coconut base that you have created and coat the chicken and add the water and bring to a boil. Add some salt and turmeric and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Serve hot with steaming rice

Chili Garlic Sesame Dip

Chili Garlic Sesame Dip 

The truth is I love having vegetables. Yes that is right I love my bacon, cake and steamed or raw vegetables. Well sometimes the salt and pepper isn't enough and so you need an extra boost with a dip but most dips are unhealthy and high in calories . Well a few years ago I had suddenly become interested in Middle Eastern cuisine and finding the ease of availability of the ingredients used in many of their dishes I became a fan of both tahini and Toum and that is how I came to make this dip of mine which is heavily borrowed from those two dips. This takes very little time to make and is a wonderful accompaniment to fresh vegetables or crisps or even nachos.

Makes 4 servings

1 head garlic
4 to 5 dried red chilies
1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar (you can use any other vinegar)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt as per taste
1.5 tsp thyme
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Soak the peeled garlic and red chili in the vinegar and oil for 1 hour. This helps reduce the heat of the chili and then just add everything and blend away and you have a healthy dip ready for you. Can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.