Smoked Indian Chicken Curry / Dhungaar-e-Dum ka Murgh … giveaway to end 2013

“People close to me called me ‘Curry in a Hurry.’
I was moving through life at 100 miles an hour trying to further my career and be a great mom and make everyone happy.”
Ann Curry

Smoked Indian Chicken Curry , Dhungaar-e-Dum ka MurghSmoked Indian Chicken Curry / Dhungaar-e-Dum ka Murgh … a simple slow cooked baked Indian chicken curry that makes life on the table seem somewhat easier. I normally cook curries on the stove top. This time was different, and it worked out quite well. Smoking it added a delicious dimension!

I haven’t posted a curry for ages even though I cook them often, including chicken and lamb korma. I’ve recently done a ‘butterless‘ butter chicken and the feedback was great. Mr PAB even commented saying it was better than buttery butter chicken!! At the time I took no pictures as it was still ‘work in progress‘…

Nirlep contacted me and asked if I would like to review any of their products. With a range as varied as Premium Steel Casseroles to a simple sandwich pan, I left it to them. All I asked for was something I could maybe pop into the oven, since I know they do a stove top range. Not that I don’t cook stove top {read I DO ALL THE TIME}, but the baking blog needed a connect!

They sent me a beautiful hard anodized handi, so I grabbed a chicken and set to work. The curry is simple as can be. It’s a simple overnight marination which tenderises the chicken. I cook it on the bone, but you can go boneless too if you like. This time I added green chutney to the marinade, some caramelised onions too. Experiment as you like because you never know what will hit the sweet spot!

As all Indian cooking, this curry works on beautiful ‘andaaz‘, eye balling as it is better known. A bit of this, a dash of that, a few green chillies for flavour, maybe a couple of beautiful red ones too. Mix it all in and marinade straight in the pot, and then throw into a low oven the next day. An hour and a half later, you have CURRY, a nice thick wrapped one!!

OR … heat a little clarified butter in the handi / pan {OK you can use oil}, caramelise some finely sliced onions, pick out the chicken pieces from the marinade and cook over high heat to seal the juices and get the pieces beautifully browned. Add the rest of the marinade, give it a quick gentle stir, seal tightly … into the oven again! Of course you could also cook over a very gentle stove top.

I have a few idea for the handi. A Basque Lamb Stew, kaali dal, stir fried veggies, Thai green curry, kadhi … all in the pipeline. Maybe a little ambitious but pot bread too. It’s quite cold {read freezing} here these days, so as soon as the weather lets up, it’ll be time to bake bread. Have to keep the yeast monsters happy!

What I love about the Nirlep Ebony Handi / anodized pot…

  • Good quality, feel good pot with a snug lid
  • The handles don’t get hot
  • Heavy duty
  • Convenient ergonomic design which is ideal for sauteing, cooking, heat distribution
  • That it goes from the stove into the oven, and back with ease
  • That you can serve right out of it, fuss free!
  • Easy clean up

So tell me dear readers, what would you make if you had a pot / handi like this? Nirlep will be happy to giveaway a similar pot to a reader of my blog. Additionally, I will add a cookbook from one of my favourite Indian authors and chef Vikas Khanna. He’s a large-hearted, fun, talented guy who is passionate about what he does. I love ‘My Great India Cookbook‘ {one of his 3 cookbooks ranked #1 in India by Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2013}. I figured you might love it too, so I am including it in the giveaway. The giveaway is open to anyone who has an Indian postal address and loves to cook/bake of course!! {Entries close on the 15th Jan 2014}

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[print_this]Recipe: Dhungaar-e-Dum ka Murgh 

Summary: Simple, smoked, delicious Indian chicken curry that can be baked {or cooked on the stove top}. A do ahead marination ensures very little work just before serving. Serve over steamed rice, naan, etc with a mixed greens salad.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:

  • 800g chicken on the bone, without skin,{1 whole} cut into 12 pieces
  • 200g full fat yogurt, hung for 30 minutes
  • 3 onions, 1 quartered, 2 sliced fine
  • 2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
  • 5-6 cloves garlic
  • 1″piece ginger
  • 2-3 green chilies {deseed if required}
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Salt to taste
  • 3 tsps green chutney {optional}
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1 small bunch fresh coriander, chopped fine
  • 2-3 small red chilies, optional
  • Dhungaar / Smoke
  • 1 small piece wood coal
  • 3-4 drops melted ghee

Method

  1. Fry the 2 sliced onions in the ghee until crisp and golden brown.
  2. Grind the quartered onion with ginger, garlic and lime juice to make a smooth paste.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt. Mix in the onion paste, caramelised onions, green chilies, red chilies if using, fresh coriander, stick of cinnamon, green chutney and garam masala. Add salt as required {you can taste it at this time to check}. Adjust seasoning if required.
  4. Now mix in the chicken pieces well, turn into handi / casserole/ baking dish, cover tightly and leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours, preferably overnight.
  5. Place the handi/casserole in a bigger empty metal bowl. Place a tiny metal bowl half filled with water on the lid of the casserole.
  6. Place in oven set at low heat and bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Let it sit for a while.
  7. Open and stir gently to get the gravy uniform. Adjust salt if required. Add some more lime juice if you like, maybe some more fresh coriander. Smoke it if desired.
  8. Make a tiny bowl with a aluminium foil. Place a hot burning coal in it and quickly drizzle a few drops of melted ghee/clarified butter over it. The coal will begin smoking immediately. Tightly shut the lid and leave for about half an hour.
  9. Note: Left overs can be deboned and used in wraps {reduce the curry to almost dry}

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Phirni Custard with Mixed Fruits

“The first meal was an object lesson of much variety. My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking, from little tin cans that had printing all over them.”
Mary Antin

Everyone Can Cook… yet another new cookbook from award winning Michelin starred chef Vikas Khanna. I loved his earlier ones, ‘My Great India Cookbook’ and ‘Modern Indian Cooking’. Vikas writes for the global audience, and his books are full of food stories and personal connects. The title of this book seemed rather straightforward… or so I thought. I expected a simple, basic cookbook, encouraging everyone to cook. The catch lay in the word CAN!

Surprise! Surprise! The can refers to the CAN in the tin industry as in canned foodstuff. Possibly a first in this genre of cookbooks that I have seen in India, I was a little skeptical when I received the book for review. It was only when I read Vikas’s foreword, that I understood and appreciated his sentiments behind the book.

He talks about his first Christmas in America in 2000 where he cooked in the kitchen of the New York Rescue Mission. In his words, “It was here that I first saw canned food and the thought that moved me was how cans were touching lives through food”. Twelve years later, he was approached to conceptualise recipes for a book using canned ingredients. In his own way of giving back to the community, he educates the reader about the industry through this book.

Directly or indirectly, it impacts millions of lives – thousands of families who provide fruits, vegetables, meats etc. to the canneries, people who work at the canneries, people who transport the cans to the market, those who purchase the cans – even those who collect the cans and take them to recycling centres. In India, rag pickers are considered the main cog in the recycling wheel; they work in underprivileged conditions. For every copy of the book sold, Hindustan Tin Works, the brainchild behind the book, will contribute a part of the proceeds towards the upliftment of this underprivileged community.

Everone Can Cook is a reflection of just how large-hearted he is. I didn’t realise that the canning industry supports such a large community, fosters relationships, helps farmers. Of course it gets the freshest produce preserved for consumers with little loss of nutrition too. The good thing about steel, the primary material used to make cans, is that it can be recycled infinitely without degradation of quality. Recycled cans also inspires art … Andy Warhol type art, or recycled can art!!

Living in the plains of North India, we don’t realise how blessed we are. We tend to take fresh produce for granted. How often would you reach for beets and carrots in a can, or say canned mushrooms? India is not a huge user of canned foods. It is only now that you see shelves in local bazaars lined with canned foodstuff, a lot of it imported.

Yet in retrospect, cans were the accepted norm in certain food areas when we were young. Cheddar almost always came out of the round Amul tin, baked beans on toast {a standard of the armed forces breakfast menu} canned again. How can I ever forget condensed milk? We grew up on it, stealing spoonfuls out of the can when no one was looking.

Cut to now, condensed milk is something I always have on hand. My favourite cheesecake, Dark Chocolate Orange Yogurt Eggless Cheesecake has a can of condensed milk as it’s main ingredient, as do my eggless brownies. Of course my version of Saffron Rice Pudding also uses it. Other canned things I like to stock up is tomato puree, coconut milk & cream, and fruit bits. I did a delicious Tropical Cream Pie with canned fruit bits a while ago … won me first prize in a contest!Everyone Can Cook is divided into easy sections like starters, soups, meat, poultry, vegetables, desserts, beverages etc. I hope it will make the Indian audience look at canned food in new light. The book offers refreshing ideas and innovative ways to use canned food. The good thing is that it makes you think differently.  I especially liked the Peach & Sundried Tomato Chicken Tartlets, Lamb Goulash, Coconut Curry Mango Chicken, Cheese Chili Soup, Chili Crab Mini Falafels, Roasted Peaches with Coconut Walnut sauce & Orange Lychee Pineapple Juice. So much you can cook out of a can!

The phirni custard was delicious; the fruit pairing quite interesting. It’s a book that makes you think out of the box can! It also makes one appreciate the contribution of the lesser known canning industry to our food centric lives, an industry we tend to take for granted. Did I mention the pictures in the book? Beautifully styled and leaping off pages!

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Recipe: Phirni Custard with Mixed Fruits

Summary: An all time favourite dessert, this Indian rice pudding is a celebration of the earthy taste of basmati rice, saffron and a surprise element…canned fruits. You can serve it warm or chilled. This Phirni Custard with Mixed Fruits is a decadent vegetarian dessert ‘From Everyone Can Cook’ by Vikas Khanna

Serves 4-6

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup basmati or long grain rice {washed, soaked for 10 minutes & drained}
  • 3 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp saffron strands {dissolved in 3 tbsp warm milk}
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
  • 1/4 cup sugar {optional}
  • 1 small can mixed fruit in syrup {drained well}

Method:

  1. Combine rice with 3/4 cup milk in a grinder. Grind to a coarse paste.
  2. Bring the remaining milk to a boil over medium high flame, add rice paste, reduce flame to low and cook, stirring continuously till the rice is cooked. Stir in the condensed milk, saffron {with milk} and cardamom powder {and sugar if using}. As soon as the mixture thickens, remove from flame.
  3. Divide the phirni custard equally into 6 bowls, top with mixed fruit and serve.
  4. Alternatively, refrigerate the phirni custard qnd fruits separately and serve chilled.

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