CURRY AND SPICE: KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI

IF I AM TO HAVE CHICKEN; I AM TO HAVE CHICKEN MY STYLE!

I am not a hardliner in most of the matters, I think. With regards to food, I am not a quitter. In the past few years; I have lost interest in chicken, gradually in mutton too! I think, not getting the Kolkata variety of them is one major reason. The other reason is our age; the senior rightly says our tastebuds do not accept meat much as we age. This is no new in the Indian, non-muslim households. At least, in our family, among the relatives; I have noticed after a certain age, they quit or lessen the quantity of meat intake. I think following the latter is wiser. Why should we quit a food ingredient unless the doctor asks us to? Okay, I was asked to quit any kind of meat altogether back in 1994; I could not. Those days, I used to immensely love meat. Till date, I couldn't quit meat. What I do is I bring them less. After the son left home for his college, we have no reason to get chicken & mutton frequently! Although, I buy meat every week for my clients, I do not cook for ourselves or may be I cook few pieces; say half a chicken or 500 gm of mutton! We have a Cristine too whose heart is not fulfilled with tyangra, pabda, rui, ilish alone! She has adapted to Bengali / Indian Cuisine does not mean I expect the maximum of sacrifice from her. I think she eats her quota of beef & pork when she goes out on Sundays! I cannot have chicken with lots of onion & garlic pastes added in it. I enjoy it in simply made curries. Oriental Style chicken dishes are my anytime pleasure!

CHICKEN ER AMI, CHICKEN ER TUMI!

Yes, I need some light jokes to bring myself back to life; after a heavy lunch, every other minute my eyelids are betraying. I want to write and finish off a blogpost in time, I am so unable to! I have trained myself hard not to take an afternoon nap but your family has it's stamp all over you. The family women or say, it had been a part of Bengali daily life to lie down for few hours after lunch and wake up before the evening tea / coffee time! There had a reason; these women worked hard for the household; no one calculates or values a homemaker's sweat is a different issue. But look at me! I live with a whole time help and still want to sleep in the day time! I had walked only 5.5 km today, yet feels lethargic. I was trying to eat a healthy lunch; but to drive away the untimely sleep; I already ate one malpoa and a narkol er sandesh; HOMEMADE!

Now, I am thinking what was the point heading back home, taking a shower, doing the afternoon prayer and cooking a healthy lunch if I had to have two sweets thereafter? Can you see the self-made tomato-corn soup and gram-flour crepes? I dislike chilla and cook them bad; I liked them today, somehow. In the morning, I had two pieces of bread, after an hour I would have two-three air-fried onion rings & a vegetarian curry puff with my coffee; and retire to the bed having me cooked Bengali food without any amount of rice or roti! I cannot sleep without having my bowl of dal! It seems, I cannot ever overcome my eating disorder syndrome and eat clean! I liked having that soup but ask me who am I? I am exactly what I ate for lunch yesterday! It was dried Bombay Duck with egg plant; raw papaya with coconut, roasted moong lentil curry with brown rice. I did get for the man a chicken & omelette rice meal from Riverside Indo Grill, stationed at our neighbourhood mall's food court!

Litchis are good after meal dessert, aren't they?

WHAT IS KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI?

What is KATA MOSHOLA? I consider it CHOPPED SPICES instead of a paste! What is GURO MOSHOLA? It is SPICE POWDERS! I think I came across many such one pot meat recipes with the marination done at one go with spice powders & chopped raw spices and cooked in a pot. I guess these are innovations of & for busy homes! I liked the idea before and have one or two recipes with meat chunks; in the blog! A few months back, I tried the same trick using MINCED CHICKEN and was born this NON VEGETARIAN, GLUTEN-FREE, CHICKEN RECIPE; KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI! May be there are similar recipes, already existing in the blog, I did not consult any! I enjoyed it because it is a SIMPLE, LIGHT, SOUPY CURRY. But I must have the full platter to enjoy the meal fully! That "mulo diye bhaja moong er dal & fulkopir dalna" I must have for a fulfilling experience! By now, I could get over the "gum ghum bhab"; absolutely cannot give up the idea of having the snacks with my coffee, that definitely kills your system! I cannot give up my pleasures altogether!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN MINCE : 300-400 GM

DICED GARLIC : 1 TBSP

SLICED ONION : 1/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP

DICED GINGER : 1 TSP

SLITTED GREN CHILLI : 2-3

CHOPPED CORIANDER : 2 TBSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4 TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 2 PINCH

CLOVES POWDER : A PINCH

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

LEMON JUICE : 2 TBSP

OIL : 2 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

PROCEDURE :

We will wash the chicken mince well taking in a strainer, under running water! Then, we are to marinate it with salt, turmeric, lemon juice, slitted green chillies, sliced onion, diced ginger & garlic! We will keep it covered for an hour!

After an hour of the marination, we will heat the oil in a wok and temper it with a bay leaf!

We will add the marinated chicken mince to it along with the marinade and give a stir!

Thereafter, we will add the cumin+coriander+red chilli+cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powders and fold in well!

We will cover cook it at minimal heat for 12-15 minutes. Removing the cover, we can see a considerable amount of water has released! We need not add any extra water if so!