AAM KORA LEBU PATA DIYE MURGI

Though I am not fond of chicken curries anymore, my kids love it.... hence it is a regular at home. Am I having vegetarian meals thrice a week? Nope, I am balancing and tuning the taste buds accordingly... On a chicken curry day like this AAM KORA LEBU PATA DIYE MURGI, I treat myself with some vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes of my choice! I have clicked few of my favourite vegetarian dishes and hopefully to blog about them gradually. Look at the picture below.... I am luckily getting fresh smaller sized Rohu / Bengal Carps and preparing the grand mother's and mother's "maacher tok".... sour fish curry... The men do not fancy boney fish.... the husband loves portions cut from giant carps with lots of fat in them. I belong to a family who grew up eating every thing... if there had "ilish" in two consecutive weeks.... there had to be "charapona" or "maacher dimer jhol" next! Finance has to be managed.... your hard earned money is not for "harir loot".... Save 60% of your earning and spend the rest of 40%.... of which 25% should be spent on food.... haha... do not listen to the last part of my stupid "gyans".... you become a diabetic with heart disease and various ailments at an early age! 

If you stick to homemade chicken... fish... vegetarian curries on a regular basis, you remain healthy.... How much of health prone this island is, eating lunches outside everyday is not a good thing to do. I love doing it not because I do not have cooked food at home... the refrigerator is overflown with food, I enjoy sitting at the food court and watching people! This is not the case for the rest of the island.... they believe in the concept of community kitchen.... some homes do not even cook for the entire week but only over the weekend! I however do not agree to this. If ever the husband allows me to start a home delivery business, I may earn well here and the below sour fish curry will be on my top list.... in fact all my family recipes.... Do not worry, I do prepare meat or boneless fish or prawns for the men on such days.... but we bond over "shutki maacher bharta"... you bet we do! They cannot have it with veggies... they do not love it to the extent I do!

As I write this post on AAM KORA LEBU PATA DIYE MURGI, I am listening to some soft romantic Bollywood numbers... I am in the charge of my own happiness, not others.... I am learning it. We do not need to shun anything or anyone who or what does not attract me or makes my eyes and soul happy.... I just avoid unpleasant encounters with them.... not everyone is my brother who I message continuously.... "bhai... what you speak or do in public defines you... be nice on the road... in office, to people in general!" I go even further and ask him to change his  profile pictures, apply skin creams.... he does not listen to me all the time... but I cannot say even this much to my senior and junior at this home... they will ask me to shut up straight on my face.... 

Even if you irritate me I am not angry and whisper to my ears "stay cool"... listen to a "KennyG" or "Shiv Kumar Sharma" or "Hariprasad Chaurasia" or "Amzad Ali" or "Girija Debi" or "Farida Khanum" or "Abeeda Parveen" or "Elton John".... the list is big and blog about an AAMKORA LEBU PATA DIYE MURGI. From the picture you will know I clicked it few months back, when it was summer in India.... I already blogged about the beans-potato sabzi and coconut-egg earlier.... then forgot all about the chicken dish! Anyway, I still do remember the recipe because it was done with few ingredients! After I had cooked this chicken dish and got the clicks ready to blog about someday, I came through a near similar recipe in the Hangla Hneshel food magazine published from Kolkata I think! I did not follow theirs, so no need of a recipe courtesy to be mentioned! 

I am reserving few mutton and ilish dishes for the upcoming Durga Pooja.... Bengalis do not eat vegetarian dishes during their biggest festival except for my side of the family....haha! My paternal grandfather used to  perform Durga Pooja in his ancestral home in Bangladesh, therefore we had to bear the torture and the ritual is still on! Those stories are lost with the death of our father.... will be lost further when my maternal grandmother leaves... I have to blog about "thorer ghonto" or "ucche chingri" soon... I must! For this flavour burst, little sweet and mildly spiced, not that authentic Bengali recipe, I used little of ginger garlic paste and a generous amount of shredded raw mango, lime leaves, few green chillies!

My Bengali style raw jackfruit potato curry post gets updated with new pictures, would you like to have a look? We call it "gach patha".... vegetarian mutton... just click the heading / link below!

RAW JACKFRUIT CURRY / ECHORER DALNA

INGREDIENTS :

Chicken : 1kg [medium cut, skin off] [I prefer kampong / deshi / country]
Shredded Raw Mango : 5-6tbsp [of one standard sized raw mango, ends thrown, peeled and washed]
Lime Leaf : 3-4 [washed]
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp
Onion Slice : 1small cup [of two medium sized, ends thrown, peeled, washed sliced]
Garlic Paste : 1tbsp
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Green Chilli Paste : 1tbsp
Black Mustard Seed : 1/4tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp +1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 5-6tbsp

PROCEDURE :

Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly under running water a few times, drain well.

Marinate the chicken pieces with the lemon juice, 1tsp of turmeric powder and some salt as required. Keep aside for an hour.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with the dry red chillies and the mustard seeds. Fry the onion slices till caramelised.

Add the ginger-garlic and green chilli pastes and stir for 2 minutes. Add the shredded raw mango and the rest of the turmeric powder and some salt as we require. Give a quick stir and for 1/2 a minute.

Add the chicken without the marinade. Stir at high heat for 4-5 minute. Reduce heat to minimum and add the marinade.

Cover cook at minimum heat for 15 minutes or until all the water released have dried. We need to check every 2-3 minutes opening the cover.

Add 2 coffee mugs of warm water and the lemon leaves. Fold in well. Cover cook for another 6-7 minutes till the gravy gets a saucy texture. We are done.

We also had some dry egg curry and beans & potato sabzi alongside on that particular day!