CHICKEN TIKKI & SPICY ALOO

 

I know it is Rath Yatra today and a section of my readers & friends may not be happy watching me blog about a chicken snacker .... In fact my ladoo gopal at this home is waiting for a treat soon! For that I need a little of preparation.... do some prior "kenakata".... taking a shower early morning, thorough cleaning the gas oven and the refrigerator... then cooking "payesh to khichuri to chutney".... then listening to the same old complain over phone "shobi to choya chuyi korey felish.... asuddho eshob".... the irritated self has to retaliate saying "do I have any option?... It is difficult to maintain all these in an apartment house".... a major section of my guest room wardrobe is occupied with "thakurer bashon koshon"..... Who is after me always with such notes? Who else but our mother.... she is an unique piece... she has her prayer room at her terrace.... where is placed a big water tank too. She does not use that water to feed her Gods & Goddesses! Why? No, that is stored water! She takes shower three times a day, goes to the ground floor from the third floor terrace to fill the "komondolu" with "fresh" water... "koler jol".... specific timed water supplied by the municipality! She has developed knee pain... yet she has to! Then, I do not even have 1/4th of her energy level or body fitness! So, you know my parental home... or to be precise the mother belongs to the pre-historic age... she is again her mother's daughter! Since, I am their protege, I get homesick after five days of a tour.... I start hallucinating of a "lau chingri or kochi pathar jhol or shutkir bhorta"..... However lavish breakfast spread is there in the hotels we stay.... end of the day I am a "matir kachakachi manush"..... how can I ever forget that a majority in both sides of our family see such things on television or movies only? Hence, I feel happy & comfortable in my cosy... humble kitchen doing naan... I still feel uncomfortable with people who had shown me the length of their "nose" few decades back.... they are "distant" people from Mars to me till date 😊......

Each time I come back from a tour, I prefer to prepare a dish from that place / country giving it a desi touch.... because I will not spend fifty dollars on ingredients which I may not use as often! This CHICKEN TIKKI & SPICY ALOO happened last night! You see few days of a tour is not enough to know the authenticity of food native of that place! What I do is take a rough idea from the restaurants we visit, take a look at what other people around is eating. This time we visited three cities / townships of Turkey.... just too inadequate to draw conclusions on their life and food! What I observed is that they prefer grilled meat.... kebab and kofta... they serve it with a little amount of rice, roasted peppers, a vegetable or more of French fries, a basket of Turkish bread or a large naan or tandoori roti kind of! 

                                                

                                                   

                                                   

I found Turkish breads same as bread loafs... at least as they serve in the restaurants! If not that, they serve you Persian breads. The rice I felt is done in chicken or vegetable stock and butter.... absolutely no fancy! Another rice preparation I saw where they use certain ingredients to give it a yellow colour and serve it with a light chicken / lamb / beef curry! The salad and soup have to be ordered separately. I found their lentil soup almost same as our mother prepared when we fell sick. Only the lentil soup has some spices but the rest has almost no spices or in a negligible amount that the very Indian, this spice loving self could not feel it! Hence, I had to come back home and do something on the similar lines if not with much spices but with good amount of chillies! 

This platter of CHICKEN TIKKI & SPICY ALOO can be had as appetisers or you may serve it with some homemade paratha / naan / chapati or just keep some bread loaf alongside! A first grade moron called the husband left home an hour back only to come back after few days. The hurry for some home cooked food yesterday was for this reason too! We always fight... even on tours on trivial issues.... End of the day I also realise that he is the one who did not let me carry a single luggage or allowed any hassle, he did not come to me with a measuring tape either decades back.... you know well I have perennial issues with my BMI.... height.... nose.... etc. Then.... I am a food blogger.... going by my blogger friends... I have to be a "sociable" person in "social media"..... so here I go with a CHICKEN TIKKI & SPICY ALOO for you all that my family loved a lot.... they love this kinds! Though I have cooked them on the microwave+grill option of a convection mode microwave oven, you can pan sear them!

INGREDIENTS : [for the Chicken Tikki]

Minced Chicken : 300-400gm
Chopped Fresh Coriander : 1medium cup [root discarded, washed]
Chopped Green Chilli : 2tbsp [washed]
Chopped Onion : 1small cup [peeled, washed, chopped]
Minced Garlic : 2tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp

Red Chilli Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1/2 tsp

Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

Dry Mango Powder : 1/2
Salt : As Required
Lemon Juice : 1/4small cup
Corn Flour : 2tbsp
Oil : 3-4 tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the Spicy Aloo]

Potato : 2-3 medium sized
Red Chilli Powder or flakes : 1tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 4-5tbsp

Dry Mango Powder : 1/2 tsp
Chaat Masala : To Sprinkle 
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Let us do the SPICY ALOO first! 

I was too tired to take the stepwise pictures but I thoroughly enjoyed doing the platter!

Wash the potatoes! Keep the skin on & cut lengthwise. Marinate with red chilli powder, black pepper powder, salt, lemon juice and keep aside for an hour.

After an hour, arrange them on a microwave proof plate. I use a convection mode microwave, so I need to place the plate on low height wired rack inside the machine. 

Thereafter, we will cook one side in microwave+grill option for 7 minutes, turnover and cook for another 4 minutes.

We will sprinkle some chaat masala before serving!

Let us do the CHICKEN TIKKI now!

Wash the minced chicken 2-3 times through a strainer.

Take it on a bowl and marinate with salt, black pepper powder, lemon juice.

Keep aside for an hour or so. After an hour, heat  the oil on a wok. Add the minced garlic & ginger; fry until we get a burnt aroma of them!

Add the onion and fry till golden brown. Add the chopped green chillies and stir for 1/2 a minute!

Add the minced chicken and fold in well. Cover cook till all the water that has released dries up!

Open the cover and add the chilli+coriander+cumin+dry mango powders & stir well! 

Stir cook for 7-8 minutes; add the chopped coriander leaves and the corn flour, mix well. Stir for 2-3 minutes & let it cool.

Meanwhile we will finish off doing all the naans and spread some butter on each!

Once the chicken mixture is cool, we will take out small portions and flatten in between our palms.

Then, we will place them on a microwave proof plate and cook one side in the microwave+grill option for 8-9 minutes.

We will urn over and cook for another 5 minutes. We should be done

Roast some big chillies, prepare a salad and get everything ready on the dining table!