ALOO MATAR MURGI

 

I AM NOT A GOOD SOUP MAKER!

But I love quite a few variety of soups! Oriental Soups, specially the Indian version of them are my favourite. I remember, whilst our stay in Kolkata; whenever we dined out during our courtship or post marriage, I would definitely have a bowl of warm soup. I was not into hard drinks then. I specially liked the lemon-coriander chicken soup and chicken manchow soup and shorba; yes! When I landed in this island, I knew the first two Oriental Soup varieties are heavily twisted to suit the Indian tastebuds! I even love this island's authentic soups, given you allow me to add enough sauces in them. I am too fond of Fish Maw Soup; I was of Shark Fin Soup too but avoid it after learning Shark Fin hunting is illegal. At home, I can make good dal soup & tomato soup. For making a good Oriental soup you either need an array of seasonings & sauces or a flair for Oriental cooking! I think I would not stock so many varieties of sauces at home, I just lack that thing required for cooking a variety of cuisines. I enjoy cooking with the limited resources I have at home, FOOD that requires less expertise! I also lack the deep knowledge about FOOD & CUISINE, unlikely to gear up my socks to grab some. Learning & deep thinking is not for me! I enjoy roaming around alone, eating here and there. I went to the local market to get some non-vegetarian items; came back, now writing in the blog; would go for an hour of walk; come back and have a late lunch! You get  no prize for saying I may eat a little something outside; a soup or an egg tart!

HOW TO MEET SOUP CRAVING AT HOME?

I do what you see. If not soups, I cook LIGHT CURRIES at home, it can be of MEAT, FISH, DAL or even of EGG! I enjoy them and the rest in the family do not bother about the texture of the curry if they get a nicely cooked meat, fish or eggs. Okay, the man does not want too many spices in his food, Cristine is a Filipino anyway, the son's heat tolerance level is like me, moderate; the brother likes South Asian spicy food; his wife and mother often eat proper soups these days! What is so wrong to adapt my kind of SOUPY CURRIES? The mother refuses to agree; she would want soup & authentic Bengali Curries separately in life! I will not work so much! The brother's wife enjoys soupy fish & meat curries, I wanted to share today something she likes! Actually, I was to share today a vegan, gluten-free cake I was trying to prepare yesterday with coconut flour! After this flaw & that, it turned to be a vegan, gluten-free snack bar.

Actually, the measurements went wrong; the fruit pulp paste used was more as compared to the amount of coconut flour used. Let me try again and once again! Cooking does not require effort & energy at this home, I have a natural flair for it; more because I have a full time help with me! My tiredness is because I am physically unfit since my birth I think; I was never into any kind of sports. I am that lazy girl till date who loves her Sherlock Holmes to Feluda, Ghanada, Teni da to Aranyadeb to Hada-Bhoda to Bikele Bhorer Mrityu to the description of Derbyshire in Jane Austen's sitting at the corner of her couch! I am thankful to people who let me be! Only if the son did his college from home, I could live a stress free life!

WHAT IS THIS ALOO MATAR MURGI?

What is ALOO? The majority of Indians call POTATO as ALOO! What is MATAR? That is GREEN PEAS! What is MURGI? It is THE Bengali of CHICKEN!The parents were fond of the North Indian ALOO MATAR CURRY with NAAN or TANDOORI ROTI on their tours of India. The mother would have dosa-idli-utthapam but the daddy only liked authentic Bengali Food, else North Indian Food outside of home! So, we are quite acquainted with a green or yellow peas curry since childhood which was thick & spicy with onion & tomato. I like it but this particular GLUTEN-FREE, MEAT & VEGETABLES CURRY is way lighter from the original! ALOO MATAR MURGI is a SOUPY CURRY with POTATOES, TOMATO, CHICKEN, ONION, GARLIC & few SPICES! This is how I replicate soups at home, I am unable to have bland food! With a touch of a magic wand called spices; soups turn onto tasty, HEALTHY CURRIES at my home! Thats good na? I had served the man paratha & CHICKEN CURRY while I had it as a soup, there was dal & dragon fruit too!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN : 500 GM [ I USED BONELESS STRIPS]

POTATO : 1 BIG

TOMATO : 1 STANDARD

GREEN PEA : 1/2 OF A SMALL TEA CUP

SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4

MINCED GARLIC : 1 TBSP

MINCED GINGER : 1 TSP

CHOPPED LEMON GRASS : 2 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We with peel, cut and wash the potato. We will wash thoroughly the chicken pieces. We will take together the potatoes and chicken pieces and marinate with the salt, turmeric & red chilli powder! Keep aside for half an hour.

If we are using chicken on bone, the potatoes are to be taken separately; the marination time for the chicken would be one to one & half hours! 

We have the spices ready, dressed & washed!

We will heat the oil in a wok and add the chopped lemon grass, minced garlic & ginger!

We will stir cook at low heat for 2-3 minutes and add the sliced onions!

We will keep stir cooking at low heat until the onions turn soft and translucent!

We will add the marinated chicken and stir cook at high heat for 3-4 minutes!

Thereafter, we will reduce the heat to low and add the potatoes; fold in well!

We will wash, chop and add the tomatoes, the cumin+coriander+dry mango powders to the wok!

We will fold in well!

We will stir cook at low heat for 4-5 minutes and add 2 coffee mugs of warm water!

We will fold in well and add the washed & slitted green chillies! We will cover cook at low heat for 10-12 minutes!

We will remove the cover, add the green peas and simmer uncovered for another 7-8 minutes!

On that day, we also had "dhyarosh bhaja, tomato diye mushurir dal, kochu-chingrir dalna" alongside; just the kind of food we like; our family way!