Chicken Roast - A Family recipe and memories galore!

  

I know. I know. I have been missing in action. Don't ask me why because even  I don't know the whys and the hows! Lets just say that my mojo went for a hike! This particular recipe I made long ago but wasn't getting the enthusiasm to write the post. And I just couldn't have posted the recipe because this belongs to my Thama - my paternal gradmom - a great cook with zamindars lineage from Dhaka. So you can well imagine the kind of food she made. Everything was royal about her! This Chicken Roast recipe belonged to her Baaper bari - fathers home and she made sure that she made the family cook learn it well and also pass on the recipe to her daughter in laws. I have grown up eating this royal dish on every special occasion and also made sure that I learn how to make it while growing up. The most important ingredient is the use of country chicken - small sized deshi murgi  stuffed with a mash of potato and boiled eggs  and served on a bed of rich onion gravy,made all the difference. So while I decided to recreate this legendary dish in my kitchen  - my biggest set back was the unavailability of small sized country chicken and had to make do with the farm ones we get here. Thus I have kind of deconstructed the dish but it tasted awesome nevertheless. Heres presenting my version of my family's favourite recipe - Chicken Roast.

 

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 medium sized - cut into 4 pieces - cleaned and washed

Onion - 1 large - finely chopped

Tomato - 1 large - finely chopped

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tbsp.

Turmeric/Haldi  powder - 1tsp + 1tsp

Red chilli powder/laal mirch powder - 1 tsp

Roasted cumin powder / bhuna jeera powder - 1 tbsp.

Boiled potato - 1 large - roughly mashed

Tomato puree - 1 tbsp.

Sugar - 1 tsp

White pepper powder - 1 tsp

Cashewnuts - 8-10 - lightly roasted

Raisins /kishmish - half of a handful

Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp. - make a powder of green cardamom,cloves and cinnamon

Boiled eggs - 2 nos - for garnish

Ghee - 1 tbsp.

Refined oil - 1 tbsp. + 1 tbsp.

Salt  - taste

Fresh coriander leaves  - finely chopped - for garnish

Method:

Preparing the chicken:

Make a few slits in the chicken pieces and par boil it till a little soft. Drain and keep the water for later use.

Now marinate the chicken with salt and 1 tsp turmeric, keep aside. Heat a tbsp. of refined oil in a flat pan and sauté the chicken pieces till golden brown in colour.
Drain and keep aside.

Preparing the gravy:

In a kadahi - deep bottomed pan - heat 1 tbsp. ghee along with a tbsp. of refined oil. Add the ginger- garlic paste and sauté lightly. Add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown in colour. Make sure not to burn the onions.

Now add the chopped tomato, tomato puree, turmeric powder,roasted cumin powder,red chili powder,white pepper powder and the mashed potato. Mix everything well together and roast the masala well.Keep adding a little warm water to help the mixture from not burning.

Next add the cashewnuts, rasins and the garam masala powder. Add the sautéed chicken pieces and a cup of the water kept aside from boiling the chicken.let everything simmer for 5-7 mins. This dish has a gravy of thick consistency so check accordingly.

Garnish with chopped coriander and sliced boiled eggs and serve with naan/roti /paratha.
Or mop it up with toasted slices of bread just like me!

 

 

 

 

Notes:

• Keep a constant watch while making the gravy so as not to burn the masalas.
• This dish has a gravy of thick consistency so add water accordingly.
• Originally this dish is made with whole country chicken - stuffed with potato mash , fried till light brown in colour and then added to the gravy.
• Instead of frying the chicken pieces ..one could also grill it in the oven.

Lamb Curry with Sweet potatoes - An experiment that turned out great.

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

I am not going to start with my usual story of why I was missing in action because by now the whole world knows that I was on a month long vacation! It was my son's summer vacation but I was the most excited one to be getting away from the heat wave that the city was facing at that time. Few days in my favourite city Delhi, then a few in  the picturesque and peaceful town of Kasauli and then finally few weeks at my mom's den.What more did I want..I was a happy soul. Ate a lot ,slept a lot, shopped a lot and spent a lot of time with my loved ones..I have come back with a lot of energy to get into everyday chores and be happy and busy.

 

Now this dish Lamb curry with sweet potatoes  is something I made before I went away but did not have the time to share with you all. It so happened that I was watching a show by Rachel Allen and it was an episode on robust meals and she made this lamb curry. Sweet potatoes is something we so use in our cooking but maybe would never really put it in a lamb curry. In my heart I felt that it would turn out good and I should give it a try. After all we Bengalis love our meat - Kosha Mangsho , Mongshor Jhol - we love all of that. This turned out to be a successful experiment so here I am sharing it with you all. Its different but it is nice. Very clean flavours, a little tang from the yoghurt and soft meat from the slow cooking. I skipped adding sugar as I was using sweet potatoes and it went perfectly with steamed rice.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Lamb/mutton - curry cut - 500 gms

Onion - 2 medium - thinly sliced

Ginger - 1 tbsp.- grated

Garlic - 1 tbsp.- grated

Cardamom pods - 4-5 crushed

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Sweet potatoes - 2 medium - cut into big chunks

Fresh mint leaves - a handful - finely chopped

Yoghurt/Curd - 1 cup

Red chillies/green chillies - 2-3 - finely sliced - adjust acc to taste

Salt - to taste

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Warm water - 1 cup

Toasted almond flakes - for garnish

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan heat 2 tbsp. of refined oil. Once done add the mutton pieces and sear on high heat for 10 to 15 mins. Its important to keep it on high flames so that the moisture is sealed in. Remove from pan and let it rest.

In the same pan add the grated ginger,garlic and the crushed cardamom. Saute lightly and add the finely sliced onions. Fry on low heat till slightly golden in colour. Tip in the seared mutton and all the dry spices - roasted cumin powder ,turmeric and Kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well with the mutton.

Next add the chunks of sweet potatoes.Add a cup of warm water,add salt,cover and let it cook for almost 45 mins on low heat. By now the meat would be soft and tender and the gravy would thicken.

Whisk the yoghurt well and add it to the pan.Also add the chopped mint leaves.  Mix well while adding the yoghurt so it doesn't split or curdle. Sprinkle the chopped chillies on top.
Remove from heat, garnish with toasted almonds and serve hot with rice.

 

Poila Boisakh Feast with ITC Sonar

Poila Boisakh or Bengali New Year is the time for hogging! We welcome the new year with sumptuous feasts and spread the love and cheer for better times ahead.When I was a kid this time of the year brought in a lot of happiness - new clothes and lots of good food. My family being the traditionalists one day before Poila Boisakh - that is on Sankranti we would be served pure vegetarian food - Enchod er Dalna( Jackfruit curry),Aam Dal( Lentils with raw mango) and Shojna Chorchori(Drumsticks cooked with mustard). This was basically done to cleanse the palate so that we could gorge on the non veg delicacies the next day! The tradition continues in my household. But with times certain things do change and now one has the luxury of taking the day off from kitchen on this auspicious day and still indulge in such traditional delicacies! With the emergence of speciality restaurants and the concept of fine dining taking the foodie world by storm one has so many options to choose from. All you need to do is dress up pretty and head to your favourite restaurant to relish the delicacies. KFB was invited by ITC Sonar to preview their brand new POILA BOISAKH MENU that has been specially designed by Chef Gaurav Lavania Sr. Sous Chef at the hotel. The interesting thing here is that Chef hails from UP and is married to a Bengali so that kind of influences his take on authentic Bengali cuisine.He brings in some subtle twist of taste to his dishes and as he rightly said that there has to be something different from the everyday home cooked meals. I couldn't agree more.

Our meal started with Gondhoraj Lassi. Very mild flavours of gondhoraj lime surely added to the taste and in this awful weather that we are experiencing here in Kolkata it was the perfect start to a wonderful afternoon.

The starter platter was a very interesting mix - something new and something very very rooted. It had Bhetki paturi (Fish fillets with mustard steamed in banana leaves) - quintessentially served as a main course I quite liked savouring it as a starter. Then there was Triguna Chingri Bhaja( crispy fried prawn) which had this quirky coating of posto,til and kalojeere! Crispy outside - soft inside - it was my most favourite item on the menu. And then there was our  good old Jhuri Aloo Bhaja.

Triguna Chingri

Bhetki Paturi

 As is the rule whenever we have such meets  - there was endless chatter and non stop flow of food. The main course had an extensive spread of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes served along with Luchi and Ghee Bhaat.

Aloo Posto ( Potato with poppy seeds), Narkel Diye Cholar Daal, Mochar Ghonto( Banana blossom curry) and Thor ( Banana stem curry) it was all there.I personally love vegetarian Bengali dishes so you can guess how happy I was to sample these.

Chingri Malai Curry

The non veg fare had every bangali's favourite dish - Chingri Malai Curry(Prawns cooked in coconut milk) Rui Kalia ( Rohu fish in a onion gravy ) and Kosha Mangsho( Spicy lamb curry). The Malai curry was nice a creamy, would have liked it a bit more sweeter though (blame my Dhakai genes, we put a pinch of sugar in every dish we cook) but I can understand that it was controlled keeping in mind varied taste of the customers.

Rui Kalia

The Kosha Mangsho was spicy and robust and full of flavours from slow cooking. The meat was succulent and juicy and was a match made in heaven with the Phulko Luchis! Got to know from Chef that it was more of a Murshidabadi preparation.

Kosha Mangsho

We finished off our meal with Aam Khejurer Chutney ( Raw mango and Dates chutney) and Papad just like we would do in a Bangali Biye Bari ( Wedding feast).

Aam Khejurer Chutney

I was totally full by now but my love for Indian/Bengali desserts took over me. I cannot resist Indian sweets - give me a sandesh or a rosogolla over chocolate truffle anyday. The dessert platter had Nolen Gurer payesh ( Date palm jaggery rice pudding), Rajbhog( a kind of rasgulla) and Chhanar Jilipi ( sweet made of cottage cheese). My favourite was the payesh - not too sweet and very flavourful. Relished on the Rajbhog and Chhanar jilipi too!

So that was the end to a great Bengali meal. Am leaving you with few more images to drool over. This is sure to make you crave for this meal this Poila Boisakh.If you are looking to take a break from savouring home cooked Bengali food and enjoy a selection of dishes with a subtle twist of taste - then this is surely for you.

All you have to do is head over to ITC Sonar and indulge in some great food which as they say is the soul of any ITC hotel.They believe that a hotel is a spirit of the city in which it stands and they work with this philosophy.

The Bengali Fare Buffet is on at the Eden Pavilion from 11th to 19th April (dinner buffet) and on 15th April traditional Bengali delights would be showcased both for lunch and dinner buffet).This would be in addition to the live action stations at the Eden Pavilion. The spread would include an array of Bengali veg and non veg delicacies.

Its priced at Rs.2000 plus taxes with soft beverages and Rs.2750 plus taxes for unlimited premium brands of select alchohol.

There is a Special Menu planned at Peshawari too if you crave for some North west frontier cuisine

For reservations and further details call - 033-23454545