RnR Chicken Fry

I thought I’d start this blog with a recipe from the first couple of Bangla Rock, Rupam and Rupsha. So the story goes, Rupam’s mother would make this dish for him, and it was one of his favorites, but he had no idea how it was made. Life changed for Rupam, his parents passed away, he became a rock star, found love and got married. The recipe was thought to be lost forever. Until that is, Rupsha got it into her head to figure it out. All Rupam remembered was that his mom called the dish “Chicken Fry”, and he had an idea what it tasted like. Rupsha figured the rest out based on those memories, and it’s a simple, healthy and tasty dish that can be cooked by a beginner.



INGREDIENTS

Onions – 2 medium or 1 very large
Garlic – 6 cloves (unless you’re using the super-huge ones, in which case 3 will do)
Plain yoghurt (the non-sweetened variety) – 100 grams
Tomatoes – 2 medium or 1 large
Boneless chicken 600 grams (or two Arambagh’s packets)
Salt – 2 level tsp
Oil for cooking – about 4 tbs (I use olive oil, but any white oil will do, such as groundnut oil, or even rice bran oil)

METHOD

1. In a blender, make a fine paste out of the onions, garlic and yoghurt.

2. Slice the tomatoes lengthwise, but not too fine.

3. Cut the chicken into bite sized peices, marinate the chicken with the paste, tomatoes and salt and set aside for atleast an hour.

4. In a frying pan, heat about 4tbs of oil till smoking, and add the chicken, marinade and all.

5. Stir on high heat for a minute or two, lower flame, cover and cook.

6. The chicken will release a lot of water, and will continue to cook slowly over an hour. Remember to keep stirring, because you’ve added spice paste to this, the whole thing will have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. After about an hour, or when the water has started drying up, taste the chicken to make sure it is cooked through, wait till the oil starts to leave the sides, and take off flame.

8. Serve hot with rotis or rice.

NOTES

For the absolute novice, tsp is tea-spoon, tbs is table-spoon, and when I say one teaspoon of something I mean a level teaspoon, as opposed to heaped. Also, don't let the jargon freak you out, marinate simply means mix and set aside, so the chicken absorbs the salt and spices.

This dish has a slight sour taste, and I like it that way. If you don’t, reduce the amount of tomatoes.

If you don’t want to use tomatoes (they are forbidden for people with high uric acid count), squeeze the juice of one lemon on top of the chicken and mix it well just before serving.

Prep time - 1.5 hours
Cooking time - 1 hour
Serves 4