MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY
I FORGOT HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TOLD MY READERS ABOUT MY FIGHT TO STOP HATING CHICKEN!
I can only say it was a miraculous come back starting to eat chicken again with a pleasant mind. Chicken came regular, for few years I was unable to have the chicken curry I was cooking. I had been always a mutton lover, also enjoyed the Sunday's chicken curry whilst watching Sherlock Holmes and few others. Doordarshan had given us good watches one after another. Why does time pass this fast I do not know. But I had been a dilli-dallied self in a fast paced world, I relished life I think! I have eaten the food I enjoyed, I have read the books I wanted. Everyone would have something unread, unversed that he or she might have wanted to cover in a lifetime but couldn't. I think we need not bother about that part much, one lifetime is too short to get to do all that we want. At times, I do want to re-watch my favourite serials from the Doordarshan era. Not only we watched the serials but also the documentaries like Bharat ek Khoj I liked, I was fond of Jonny Soko and his flying Robot, WWF. Watching Knight Riders and Remington Steel, I learnt about a rich country named America, not from the history books. Watching Jaws, I learnt about Hollywood. I started losing interest in the tele serials in the early noughties. They did not remain as good as what we watched in the 80's-90's. After watching Tamas you would not want to watch petty stuffs. Yes, I remember my chicken leg piece and some of them well. I forgot about most of them, when social media does a mention of them, I get nostalgic. What else to do sitting idle at home?
ON A BENGALI NEW YEAR'S DAY WE ATE HOME COOKED FOOD!
In fact, for a couple of years things are like this, we spend a special day as any other normal day, just that the man enjoys an extra holiday and I enjoy cooking and off course his company. You can blame it on me, I cannot mingle. I also do not get why people's lives are guided by the social media. The spontaneity of a relationship is lost and I got to be more like a snail. I get to hear the son too is kind of reclusive. Mumma wants him to have a warm & active friends circle without hampering each-other's academics. I made a late start today and want to wrap up quickly. I was baking dates cup cakes to update an older blogpost, may be tomorrow. Yesterday, we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch with Hilsa fish curry, Dried Bombay Duck fish and Vegetables Medley, Raw Mango-Red Lentil Curry. I forgot to click. Because it was our New Year, I asked the fish vendor brother for big cuts of the fish and I got wind, it is not always about misery. In the evening, we were planning to order pizza. Then I changed the plan and cooked our favourite noodles with potato, onion, green chilli, scrambled eggs, vinegar, salt, black pepper.
Even my sophisticated man loves this version of noodles. Below was my today's first meal. Making of that Bajra Roti / Pearl Millet is pretty tough. If I mix it with wholewheat flour, we still enjoy. But a gluten-free version with the millet alone is a strictly no for the rest at home.
I too did not find all of that work worthy enough, with a dysfunctional thyroid gland, it is not okay to have millets. I am making my kitchen devoid of excesses. Henceforth, I would stock only Barnyard Millet among the millet varieties, only few varieties of lentils and beans Bengalis were known to eat decades back. Those who eat fish and meat, they need not eat that much of Bean protein. Instead vegetables are better to have.
WHAT IS MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY?
I cooked this last November but the clicks done at the night time were not making me happy. I again cooked it last December, 21st day time and clicked. Either the son arrived on that day or the next day to spend few days with us. I think of those few days and miss him more. That is because he doesn't talk to us often and I do not work that I can make up that void. I have tried several times to make my men feel this but in vein. So I cook this and that.
The entire morning was spent on this. I had to swim less, my God Family was hungry. I had to write a blogpost, the mind was looking for a thriller to watch. In the morning only I chose to blog about an easy recipe without needing to sort the stepwise pictures. I am not a machine and all day, at all times I would not be in the same mood. I found this non-vegetarian, gluten-free meat curry, MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY as a perfect share for the day. To be on the safer side, I would tag it my style because I do not store kaffir lime leaves or candle nuts at home. Our marts do stock "Tom Yum" or "Thai Green / Yellow / Red Curry"spice packets, I feel lethargic needing to be this organised before cooking a dish. I cooked this recipe with whatever was available in my kitchen, that gets the best out of me.
INGREDIENTS :
CHICKEN : 1 KG [MEDIUM CUT]
BABY CORN : 7-8
GREEN CHILLI : 6-7
FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL
FRESH MINT : 8-10 LEAVES
SKINLESS ROASTED PEANUT : 1 TSP
LEMON GRASS : 2 STALKS
GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP
ONION PASTE : 2 TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP
LEMON LEAF : 2
LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2-3 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
Wash well the chicken under the running water, drain the water. Marinate it with salt, the lemon juice, half of the ginger+garlic+onion pastes. Keep aside for an hour.
Prepare a paste with roasted peanuts, washed and chopped coriander & mint leaves and green chillies. Discard the stem end of the baby corns, cut half and wash.
Discard the outer layer of the lemon grass & wash, cut into pieces the softer, young portion and crush a bit.
Heat the oil in a wok, add the crushed lemon grass. Give a stir and add the rest of the onion+ginger+garlic pastes+salt. Stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes, add the marinated chicken and keep stir frying at medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Reduce the heat to the minimal and cover.
Keep checking the wok every 7-8 minutes, give a stir. After some half an hour, remove the cover and add the baby corn pieces and the green paste. Fold in well. Add 1 & 1/2 coffee mugs of warm water.
Cover cook at minimal heat for 12-15 minutes. Remove the cover, add the lemon leaves, stir cook for 2-3 minutes. We should be done.
Comments 0