WELL COOKED LIGHT MEAT CURRIES ARE WELCOME!
Our mother cooks dry curries, I prefer keeping the curry light, soupy! I never boil and throw the water of the spinach greens, she does, again cook after tempering! She cooks cabbage over a longer period of time than I do! Once I read over cooking may kill vital nutrients of the raw materials, South Asians overcook! Although I prefer soupy, clear textured curries, specially of meats; they cannot remain undercooked! But mutton & chicken kosha; I cannot even forget ever their taste; I do not have enough words to explain how priceless had been that one piece of "kosha mangsho" in the humble kitchen of a two roomed rented home on a Sunday! If it was mutton; 750 gm would come; no way you could claim few pieces more; that would mean depriving others of a single piece! Today, I can have as much I want; but where is that taste, flavour? In those days "ghanir shorsher tel, shiley bata moshola" were used! I use half the oil & spices preparing a meat curry, where to get the taste of the bygone days? Our mother always works with minimal oil, potato, onion, garlic; yet she was generous while cooking the mutton! I also miss that variety here! I get home more of chicken! In those days, it was more of chicken than mutton in our middle class home! In the grand parent's era; Sunday meant mutton; chicken cooking meant once in a year may be in the garden in earthen pots; then cleaning the area with cow-dung! In the paternal grand parent's home, it was perhaps fish 90% to 10% of meat! Today's chicken curry is soupy, light textured! As far as I can remember it is sourced from an Afghani recipe video!
A CHICKEN SHARE ON MY MIND; MORNING BAKES; MIRACULOUS NEWS!
That is how I can explain the day until now! The day before, I decided to dig up the pictures of this soupy meat curry from May 9th, 2020 and blog about it! I would want to change the pictures sooner; no worries; it would come with the salmon I do not like! This morning, I was into changing the pictures of another blogpost LEMON ZEST BUTTERCUP BAKES, followed by some coconut cookie making!
We loved the cookies but it needs to be crisp to be able to be blogged about! Until then, I had no clue what news would be coming my way! Then I get one WhatsApp forward from T; our long time friends Mitty Mathew & Anjana Mathew are blessed with a baby boy last evening! Mitty, Dibyendu, T are brothers from different mothers since 1992. Their age is a factor, then, if the Almighty has blessed them, all three of them will be taken care of!
Without their permission, I cannot make public their picture! I cannot explain the happiness seen in the parent's faces; baby boy is wearing a light pink dress and wrapped in a white & grey piece of cloth! I remember their days with us in Kolkata; our days with the Keralite couple in Vijag! How much of love Anjana had shown our son, how much she loved any kid.The son used to call her "Ananna"! Now, they stay in Abu Dhabi and speaking from my heart, I wish to fly with T to Abu Dhabi to witness the miracle, their happiness! Anjana wanted her own child, a boy or a girl! She is a hardcore Catholic, always told me "S, by God's Grace we will get one when he wishes"! In Vijag, Mitti took us to the Shiva temple, before heading back home he told me not to offer the prasadam to Anjana, she would deny, I may feel bad! Both of their faith on God did get them what they prayed for! I wish I could personally forward this message to our brothers & sisters. Then, its a very sensitive issue; T asked not to! Of Bidisha-Bhai; Jhum-Anirban; only Bidisha may allow to talk on the matter; the rest of the three do not want to entertain me! I wish they read my post and know there still has hope! Our son can have siblings around!
WHAT IS SOUPY CHICKEN BROCCOLI CURRY?
With all the above activities, high on emotion, a swimming session; I had my lunch at 3:25 pm; a humble brown rice; butter with powdered nigella seed, bengali cabbage sabzi! Actually, my family used to make "kalojeerer bhorta" to have whenever we caught cough and cold, prescribed to eat also after giving birth! Now I would have tea with store bought frozen spring rolls; the filling of which is totally bland! At night, I wish to redo and update an old blogpost; Borboti Aloor Torkari O Dal Porota! Now, what is this SOUPY CHICKEN BROCCOLI CURRY? It is a gluten-free meat curry double cooked in a spiced broth, along with broccoli, a healthy non-vegetarian side dish! I might have seen a similar recipe in an Afghan recipe video or read about it in Sushmita Banerjee's "Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou"! I do not remember; what I remember is that the recipe was done with lamb; I did it with chicken. The broccoli was my addition; it found a better place in a chicken soup!
Few other Chicken Recipes from the Blog :
CHICKEN : 1KG [MEDIUM CUT]
BROCCOLI FLORET : 1 COFFEE MUG
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEACUP
SLICED GINGER : 1 TBSP
GARLIC CLOVE : 2 TBSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2
LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP
BAY LEAF : 1
CLOVE : 4-5
CINNAMON STICK : 3-4 ONE INCH SIZE
GREEN CARDAMOM : 4-5
TURMERIC POWDER : 2 PINCH + 2 PINCH
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/2 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
We will wash the chicken; marinate with salt and half of the turmeric!
We would take 2-3 coffee mugs of water in a wok, put for boil! We would add washed garlic, ginger, cloves, green cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf, salt, bring it to boil!
We will add the chicken pieces along with the marinade, the tomatoes! We will cover cook it for 12-15 minutes at low heat!
We would take out the chicken pieces & strain the soup!
We would heat 2tbsp oil in a clean wok; add the washed, sliced onions and chopped green chillies!
After 4-5 minutes, we will add the washed broccoli florets, cumin + coriander + turmeric + black pepper powders, give a stir!
We would add the soup extract & the lemon juice, bring it to a boil!
After 3-4 minutes of boiling, we would add the chicken pieces, adjust the salt! We would simmer at low heat for 7-8 minutes, we should be done!
God Blessing the new born boy baby! Soupy chicken broccoli Curry looks great. I love it.
ReplyDelete