Chicken Debacle

 

Finally last night I geared up to make the chicken gravy of my Saasu Maa style! But then and there happened  this debacle !

It is a long story and I'm in a tel-a-tale mood! 

My saasu maa was an awesome cook and it is not a secret anymore as I have told this myriad times. Being  a vegetarian, never had the chance of tasting her non-veg preparations. And as I entered into my sasural, everybody except my Father-in-Law was Non-Vegetarian. And I did not even know the ABC of good Non-veg dishes.

Cooking was my hobby and now it is my passion too, so I wished to learn Non-veg , plus, my Hubby was so fond of Chicken and Mutton that for his sake I eagerly wanted to cook those dishes. But Saasu Maa thought that I need not worry about all this as we were living together, she would always prepare these things. Still, I insisted.

One day, she allowed me to cook mutton and told me the process and spices and left everything on me saying that I could cook now. As an enthusiast cook, I happily grabbed the opportunity and started preparing her iconic Mutton gravy. Here, I should mention that previously, I learnt from my cousin some grilled chicken recipe and dared to prepare that, and to everyone's surprise, that turned out outstanding! Still people remember that dish of mine and say that nobody can cook grilled chicken as good as me!! That has become my signature dish! Also One day I prepared Rohu fish and that was also awesome.So, having the confidence of preparing good food, I ventured on cooking my Mom-in-Law's signature dish. Yahin gadbad ho gayi....!

That mutton turned out horrible and my devar quitted eating Mutton from that day! Of course he re-started eating but after a long span of time. I was feeling so guilty that decided not to attempt anymore any of my saasu maa's dishes, as it will never turn out even mediocre...

We shifted to Chicago after 4 years. Here was no Mom to cook such delicious Non-veg dishes for my husband and he was missing that. And I was so scared of that debacle that I could not muster strength to prepare anything. The credit goes to my dear hubby as he never hesitated to instill confidence in me and motivated me to cook Non-Veg again. But as I have not even seen anybody cooking those dishes, it was very hard to cook good stuff and the standard of good food was also very high as he had the good luck of having his mom's extraordinary cuisine! But he said and I quote," Nobody comes learning anything from mom's womb, we always learn in this world. Tum jo bhi cooking janti ho akhir apni Mummy se hi seekhi hai na, baithe baithe to nahi aa gaya sab kuch; isliye koshish karo ye sab bhi seekh jaaogi dheere dheere."

And he did not stop there, told me to prepare a basic gravy as Restaurants do and give various tadkas to  impart variety to them, also, suggested me to bake the chicken pieces so the rawness will not be present in the dish. That was the time you tube recipes were not available as they are now. Thus my journey of cooking meat started and by trial and error I succeeded in preparing perfect dishes..be it chicken,fish,shrimp,sausage or turkey. Mutton was not my forte as the quality of mutton available here was hated by hubby till now. Now we have access to good quality mutton also and I have prepared and mastered that cuisine too!

                  Enough digression! So even preparing so many varieties of Chicken, fish and Mutton, Husband was missing his Mom's signature chicken! He would keep uttering," kash tumhe Mummy ji wala chicken banana aata hota to aaj  uski craving nahi ho rahi hoti!" Enough is enough! I decided to recollect her chicken by memory and went ahead to recreate it, thought after cooking that it is her replica chicken and already posted the pictures on Instagram naming the dish "SAASU MAA STYLE CHICKEN."

Husband came late from business meeting last night and thus at 11 PM we sat for having our dinner. He kept asking about other stuff and I was getting impatient to know about the outcome. I was thinking that he would be amazed to taste that dish for which he was desperately craving and as my saasu maa is no more alive, I could not ask her the recipe. But he was deliberately avoiding giving comment on chicken and my patience ceased to be a virtue and I told him to leave aside any other topic and just tell me about the Chicken he is eating right now!

"Oh, ye to BAWAL  bana hai, truly amazing!" told he. I'm like what.....no mentioning of fulfilling his heart's desire . Again I enquired,"isn't it the same as Mummy ji's?" "No way, but is is definitely mind blowing! Ten out of ten!" So, I failed to recreate her signature dish and debacle occurred....

He was extremely happy  with this chicken made by me and told me that it was not only one of my best preparations but also one of the best chicken dishes he had in his life so far! Thought of naming this Chicken Be-misal but went ahead to name it Chicken Debacle on the pattern of Chimichanga!  Chimichanga, the famous Mexican food is a nonsensical curse word! 1922 – El Charro Cafe – Tucson, Arizona – Family legend say that Monica Flin, who started the restaurant in 1922, cursed in the kitchen when a burrito flipped into the deep fryer.  Because young nieces and nephews were in the kitchen with her, she changed the swear word to “chimichanga,” the Spanish equivalent of “thingamagig.”   The word changa means female monkey in Spanish and a chimney of the hearth.  When put together this becomes a polite version of “unmentionable Mexican expletive that mentions a monkey.”– Source: Arizona Folk Lore Center, by Jim Griffith.  

                         Some other day I'll share the story how my saasu maa came to learn this chicken, suffice for today and let's jump to the recipe now.

Ingredients:

1. Boneless Chicken Breast-1 or Thigh-2 cut into pieces, you can have bone in chicken too (My hubby eats just 2-3 pieces so I make less, but you can increase according to this ratio.)
2. Onion-2
3. Ginger-Garlic paste-1 tsp.
4. Grated tomato-1/2
5. Bay leaf-1
6. Curd-1 tsp.
7. Coriander powder- 1 heaped tsp.
8. Chilli powder-1 & 1/2 tsp. (Soaked in water)
9. Kashmiri chilli powder-1 tsp.
10. Salt
11. Mace-Half blade or 2-3 thin sticks
12. Nutmeg-less than a pinch
13. Green cardamom-5
14. Watermelon and musk melon seeds-1 tbsp(You can have any one of them)
    
15. Mustard oil-3 tbsp.
16. Desi ghee-1 tsp.
17. Water-1/4 cup

Procedure:

• Wash and marinate chicken with salt, ginger-garlic paste and curd.Keep aside.
• Slice 1 onion for tadka and roughly chop rest of them for masala. 
• Grind together mace, green cardamom and nutmeg in a spice grinder.
• Grind melon seeds and soak them in 3 tbsp. of water.
• Heat mustard oil in the vessel  and add bay leaf.
• Now add sliced onion and saute till light pink.
• Add marinated chicken and seer on high flame till they turn white and a nice spot is visible on them.
• Lower the flame and add chopped onion, coriander powder, rest of salt for masala and cover and cook on low medium flame.
• When chicken is half cooked and onion is mushy, add soaked chilli powder, bhuno on loe flame till oil starts separating.
• Add grated tomato and keep bhunoing.
• When onion is assimilated into chicken and oil is coming on the surface, add ghee.
• Now add soaked melon paste and keep stirring.
• After approx. 5 minutes, add ground spices and water.
• When water boils, turn off the flame and cover the vessel.
• Serve with chapati or rice.

Note: Mummy ji only used musk melon seeds but I used both melon seeds as I was short on musk melon seeds and it is not available here in Chicago so I bring it from India.