Experiments with Food Ep.01

 Experiments with Food Ep.01

CHICKEN and you don't need a grill to do it

Staying at home due to Covid19 threat all around really brought out certain skill developments that I never knew I had nor had a used for like cooking and drawing for instance. Though I never got far in the ways of the Art world, I did manage to achieve a certain mileage in the culinary department. Two food items that are on top of my favorite food list are Biriyani and Tandoori chicken. . . . not together obviously!!!. So I been trying and trying to perfect these two dishes to a point where I can say "this feels exactly or even better than what I had from my favorite restaurant". I am not ready to publish my recipe of biriyani just yet but for TANDOORI I just yelled "Eureka...." in the kitchen. Below is the recipe and the technique that I learned from combining several other recipes.

Mix and marinate the below and set aside for 30 mins. Make incisions on the drumstick so that the marination is proper

Chicken - 2 drumstick
Salt

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Add the below to the marinated chicken and marinate again for 45 mins to 2 hrs.

Curd - 1 small cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt

Some things to remember in this 2 stage marination, in the first stage the quantity of salt we add ensures that the chicken has just enough salt and not too blunt and the salt added in the second stage is just to compensate for the chilly and masala. Regarding Lemon juice, Pepper and Chilly powder the amount is totally upto you and how much you want these to trigger your taste buds. I used Kashmiri Chilly because its not too spicy and gives a nice color to the chicken. . . .much better than using artificial color.

Once properly marinated, we take a non stick pan add two spoons of oil or ghee and when the pan is hot we add the chicken pieces and wait patiently at medium heat. Make sure that you use a tong and keep rotating the pieces at regular intervals so that all sides are properly cooked. Don't worry about the uneven burns here and there. . . Tandoori is supposed to be like that. Just be sure not to leave the pan unattended and burn one whole side, because as you know we are not closing the pan or adding any liquid other than very little oil so the chicken is cooking solely using the chicken fat and the marination so proper attention is needed. If you close the pan then moisture will start developing and we do not want the Tandoori to be too moist. 

So after a few twists and turns and a lot of patience, when you see even burn marks on all sides, then we move on to the "authentic tandoori" feel. The actual tandoori is definitely not fried on a pan but held on top of hot flame and charcoal which we need to mimic at home. So first we need to hold each piece with a tong and hold it top of a gas stove for a few seconds, this removes any excess moisture and also adds to the burning taste, keep the gas at full flame and keep moving the piece in and out and roll to ensure uniform contact with flame. Now its time for a puff, to give it that smoky feel as well. For this get a piece of charcoal, if you don't have it then just burn a small branch or a piece of wood. Burn it on top of the gas stove and with the flame, place it inside a small bowl and then keep the chicken and this bowl in a container that has a proper lid. Now keep the lid ready, blow out the flame and pour one spoon of ghee on top of the red coal and close the lid and let the smoke stay for like 5 mins atleast.

Your making it for your family, your making it for yourself but that doesn't mean you grab a piece and have it just like that. . .believe me, I was tempted to have a taste as soon as I fried it. But there is always a certain joy in having food on a plate with proper presentation and if you need a extra jolt for your taste buds, just squeeze some lemon over a piece just before you have it. I sure did and its absolutely fantabulous!!!