##Chicken_Butter_Masala #Recipe #Sunday #Joy

#Sundays are reserved for me, #father of two #daughters, all three meat loving person, to cook some non vegetarian delight. Its an honour, I, #Pratiush, take it very seriously. The planning starts mid week, as to what to cook, which #recipe to follow. What will be the #ingredients which will be used, their availability and their procurement. A typical #Awadh #non_veg dish requires a lot of things. A long list of spices (really long), raw ingredients like onion, ginger, garlic, tomato, green chillies, yogurt and green coriander. Oh gosh, the list goes on and on. For a authentic recipe, I depend on famous #chefs like #Ranveer_Brar, #Sanjeev_Kapoor and #Kunal_Kapoor, and my instinct and past experience. I have to tone down on oil, due to me, spices, due to kids and find a middle path, without compromising on quality and taste. One thing is sure, whatever I cook, I use slow cooking method, rarely using pressure cooker. I bought a 5 litre pressure cooker, with a heavy base, induction compliant, use it for mutton dishes, but without using whistle facility. I just use it as a utensil, with a heavy base and large space to cook mutton dishes, as in slow cooking method, heat should be spread evenly, otherwise stuff may get burnt.

This Sunday, decided to make #Chicken_Butter_Masala, a highly appreciated dish in North India. Yes, in this dish, goes a lot of butter and cream, but indulgence once in a while is acceptable. No prior preparation is required in this dish, as it doesn’t requires marinating.

I bought a whole bird, got it cut into nice pieces, washed them nicely and put aside for draining extra water. Now I don’t have a tandoor, hence instead of roasting it into it, I have devised an indigenous method, known as “jugad technology”  in #India, ie to find unconventional way to get the desired result. I take a non stick pan, put some butter in it and at a very high heat, toss all the chicken pieces. After some time, the chicken is almost half cooked, giving brownish hue, suggesting as if roasted in tandoor. First step completed successfully.

In a kadhahi, an Indian wok, I took 100gm butter. Put onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli paste in the kadhahi. In slow cook method, I roasted it for 10 minutes, till onion paste turned brown and all moisture seemed to smoke away. Fat of butter also separated Now I added tomato puree and all the spices, turmeric, coriander, red chilli, roasted cumin and garam masala powder in it. I left it for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, till fat leaves again.

Next step is to add chicken pieces to it and a small quantity of water. Let it simmer in its own juices. Later add some more water, cashew paste, poppy paste and a dollop of cream. Adding edible red colour is optional, I use it for dramatic effect and kids feel it to be of restaurant variety. Now just stir it occasionally, gently, so that pieces of chicken doesn’t get broken. Once the curry’s consistency is met, put off heat and leave it for 5 minutes to cool down and amalgate nicely. Later I garnished it with some cream, but its optional.

This #dish #Chicken_Butter_Masala tastes best with all #Indian #breads, such as #Naan, #tandoori_roti, #khameeri_roti, #phulka or plain simple boiled rice.

A nice green salad, reduces the guilt of a rich food.

 

#Dal_Makhni #Dal #Makhni #Recipe #Pratiush

#Holi is one of the major #Hindu #festival of India, played with colours. When its festval, so some special #food is to be cooked. On 2nd March, got this opportunity, so decided to #cook #Dal_Makhni . It is one of the rich food, with lots of #butter and #cream. Many #spices go into its making. It’s a complex process of #cooking, but the results are worth of it.

Its preparation starts from previous evening. If we assume that 4-5 people will eat, then we will take approximately one cup, or 150 gm of #black whole #Urad #dal and one fourth #Rajma ie kidney seeds and soak in approx half litre water. I added some bay leaf, badi elaichi or #black_cardamom, #green_cardamom, salt, cloves and #black_pepper. Covered the lid and let it to soak overnight. Next day, I put all these in pressure cooker and cooked it in slow flame, till 20 whistles. The dal and rajma should be thoroughly cooked. Mash it slightly. I took a large #kadhai or wok on slow flame. Added approx 100 gm butter in it. When it starts melting, I added heeng, jeera and onion paste. When paste was slightly roasted, I added paste of green chillies, paste of garlic and ginger. When all the paste was nicely cooked, fat starts to leave and paste becomes brown, it’s a sign that my dish is now ready for next level. Now I added puree of tomato in it and again cooked in slow flame. When again fat started to leave, I added the dal in it, with whatever water was remaining, depending on consistency, some water can be added. I had to occasionally stir it now. I added turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and some dhaniya powder ie coriander powder. Now the dal has to be stirred to see that it doesn’t stick to base. When I get the desired consistency, I put off the flame and added cream in it. Miraculously it changes colour and now consistency is creamy.

The best part starts now. I took a piece of coal and heated it on gas flame, till red. Now I put that burning coal in a small katori, which was put on the surface of dal. I poured some desi ghee on it and immediately covered the lid. after some time when the lid is opened the Shahi, or Royal Dal Makhni is ready. It can further be garnished with long strand of ginger and long slit of green chilli. It can be eaten with Nan, Roti, Lachha Parantha or rice. I prefer with rice and aloo papad.

#Pratiush_cooks #food #foodie #food_porn #Festival #ghar_ka_khana #Lucknow #lunch #sumptuous