Chicken Vindaloo

Four years ago my Father In Law gifted me a recipe book called 101 Parsi Recipes by Jeroo Mehta. Until then I had never heard of her. It is only then I realised that Jeroo Mehta is considered to be the doyenne of Parsi Cuisine. The book was first published in the year 1973 much before I was born! Since my experiments in the kitchen were growing, this was a very welcome addition in my kitchen.

To be honest I didn't make too many dishes from the book in all these years except for few egg recipes. This weekend I thought of celebrating the Nowruz / Navroze or the Parsi New Year by making Chicken Vindaloo from the book. I followed the recipe as much as I could; but had to make few "adjustments" here and there. Like the Assamese in me, prompted me to use Mustard oil. It's a belief that non vegetarian dishes taste better if cooked in Mustard oil. That's something I can't change though I have tasted many dishes cooked in various other oils and they taste super. All in the mind you see.

Here's the recipe as I followed - 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 kg Chicken ( I was only cooking for myself)

1 large onion, finely sliced

2 dried Red Kashmiri chilies.

1 tea spoon of Ginger Garlic Paste.

1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds.

One major change here that I did was that I used the ready made Ginger Garlic paste. Mehta's recipe suggested that one piece ginger, 4-5 garlic cloves,  1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and the kashmiri red chilies were to grind to a paste with 2 tablespoon of vinegar. I just ground the red chillies with vinegar.

2 Table spoons of vinegar to cook.

1 Cinnamon stick

2 Green Chillies, slit and seeded ( optional) 

1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

1 Teaspoon salt or as per your taste.

2 Tablespoons oil to cook ( It was vegetable oil in the book, I used mustard oil )


METHOD

Heat oil and fry the sliced onion till they become pale golden.
Add the ginger garlic red chilies vinegar masala paste and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces, 2 tablespoons vinegar, cinnamon stick, green chilies and salt. I would like to mention here that the chicken that I had at home was boneless. Mix everything together well and let the chicken cook for 10 minutes. 
Add one cup of hot water, bring to boil then simmer, covered till the chicken is cooked. 

The recipe mentioned to add few small potatoes at this stage. I skipped that. 

When the chicken is cooked, add sugar as per your taste.

I must say, the result was something I myself relished so much. I had that with Masoor Pulav. 
But the chicken was definitely the highlight of the lunch. Hence, after a long time I decided to share this a recipe in my blog. 

Monsoon Potluck

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” 
― Mark Twain

Meeting friends for a potluck during monsoon or Bihu or any special occasion has become a ritual since last few years now. This year was no exception; but this year we decided to get surprised items but surely "not desi"  but try to keep it as Asian as possible. 
Of course we decided on who was getting starters or main course or dessert. The result and the spread was simply super. 

Bonding over good food with varied conversation with good company make all the difference. 

Here are the photos of what we ate..

Starters : 

We had Devilled Eggs with a Mayo and Tuna twist.

Noodles with stir fried vegetables and chicken in orange juice.

Grilled Chicken with Kaffir Lime

Garlic and Orange Mint prawns with Avocado and Wasabi Guacamole.

Starters

My plate of Starters

Main Course :

Main Course

Chicken Rendang
Nasi Lemak
Malaysian Sambal
Roasted peanuts, salads and boiled egg.

Dessert :

No bake cake with Icecream and Mascarpone Cheese
Coconut Macaroons

Dessert

Every dish was simply delectable and the love that had gone behind preparing and presenting shone through each one. 

One Confession : Both the starters; Grilled chicken and Prawn with Guacamole were prepared by my better in kitchen half. I just ate.