Desi Style Chicken Burgers

Here’s something that can brighten up your Monday. You can make these burgers on Sunday, refrigerate them and carry them to work/school on Monday. They’re easy to make and absolutely delicious.

These were inspired by the amazing Sahil “Demonstealer”Makhija, India’s only heavy metal cook. You should check out his cookery show “Headbanger’sKitchen”, and his bands, Demonic Resurrection, Workshop and Reptilian Death.

INGREDIENTS

For the patties

Minced Chicken – 600gms

Onion – 1 large, chopped fine

Garlic – 1 tablespoon, chopped fine

Ginger – 1 tablespoon, chopped fine

Green chillies – 1 tablespoon, chopped fine

Fresh coriander leaves – 2 heaped tablespoons, chopped fine

Salt – 2 level teaspoons

Garam masala powder – 1 level teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 1 heaped teaspoon

Eggs – 2

Sattoo powder – 2 heaped tablespoons

Vegetable oil for frying

For the buns

Pao buns – 8

Butter/Mayonnaise

METHOD

Mix together all the ingredients for the patties. Don’t be afraid to use your hands, make sure there are no lumps.

Now minced chicken even with all the ingredients will have the consistency of a very thick paste. Add more sattoo if you want to make it thicker, but don’t overdo it. Too much sattoo will make it taste awful.

Before you fry your patties, fry a test piece. Put your frying pan (preferably non-stick) on the flame and add oil. We will not be deep frying the patties, so just add enough oil so you have a little less than a ½ inch layer. Now take a spoonful of the chicken, and once the oil has started smoking, gently drop into pan, and fry on high heat till all sides are golden brown.

Take it out of the pan, give it a minute to cool and then taste it. Make sure you got the seasoning right.

Now shaping the patties can be tricky. You could buy an expensive hamburger press, but the simpler, and cheaper way is to use a large jar lid, covered in some clean, transparent, plastic wrap. Make sure the jar is not too much larger than the pao buns, line it with the transparent wrap, wipe the plastic with some vegetable oil, so the chicken doesn’t stick to it and then begin shaping.

Add enough chicken to fill the lid, flatten it down so it takes the shape of the lid, scrape off the excess. Gently invert the lid and tip the patty on to your hand, and then gently drop the patty into the oil, once it’s smoking hot. You can look at photos of this technique, here.

If you don’t have a lid, it’s not really a problem. Just scoop the chicken, using a tablespoon or serving spoon into a large enough ball, and once you put it in the frying pan, flatten it out into a patty. But this way, it does get harder to have evenly sized and perfectly shaped patties.

Now remember, chicken cooks very very fast, so DO NOT lower the flame. Fry the paties on one side till they become golden brown and firm enough to flip. The turn them over and cook the other side. If you feel the oil has become too hot, and there’s way too much smoke, you can turn the gas down to medium-high at most. Do not slow cook chicken burger patties on a low flame, they will lose all their moisture and become totally dry.

I find it takes about 3 minutes on each side to cook the patties on high flame. But then that’s on my gas stove. Your stove may cook it faster, or slower, so pay attention to the patty when your frying it.

Once the patties are done, slice the pao buns in half, and toast the insides lightly. Don’t brown them, just make them a little crisp.

Apply butter or mayonnaise on the inside of the pao buns. I find Amul cilantro flavor cheese spread goes really well with these “desi style” burgers.

When placing the patties inside the pao buns, you can improvise and add a slice on onion, tomato and lettuce if you feel like it. I don’t bother, coz they taste great anyway.

Makes 8 – 9 burgers

Railway Style Chicken Curry

I have to be honest, this recipe isn't completely my own. It was a recipe for mutton, which I found here, and I adapted it for chicken. It's a nice spicy curry, that you can try out for Sunday lunch. Looks a little elaborate, but it isn't very difficult. 

INGREDIENTS

Boneless chicken – 350 gms approx

For “Railway Masala Powder”

Coriander seeds ~ 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds ~ 2 tsp

Fennel seeds or Saunf ~ 2 tsp

Whole black Peppercorns -- 15

Dry Red Chilli – 8

For marinade

Plain yoghurt – 100 gms

Salt – 1 level tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 level tsp

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 heaped teaspoon

Ginger paste – 1 heaped teaspoon

Garlic paste – 1 heaped teaspoon

Mustard Oil – 1 tablespoon

For phoron (tempering)

Black cardamom – 1, crushed

Green cardamom – 2, crushed

Cloves – 2, crushed

Cinnamon – 1 inch piece, crushed

Bay leaf – 1, medium size

For gravy

Onions – 2 large, finely chopped

Potatoes – 2 medium sized, peeled, and cut in half

Mustard Oil

Hot water

Salt

METHOD

Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces.

Take a dry kadhai, and put it on a burner on full flame, but without any oil. The kadhai should be adequately hot in a couple of minutes. Take all the ingredients for the “Railway Masala Powder” and gently drop them into the dry kadhai. Stir constantly to avoid anything burning. Turn off heat and take the spices out of the kadhai as soon as they start getting a little fragrant. We’re not really roasting the spices, just making them a little crisp, driving the moisture out of them so they can be powdered easily.

Once the whole spices for the “Railway Masala Powder” have cooled, run them in a blender, and turn them into a fine powder. Put the powder in an airtight container and set aside.

Run all the ingredients for the marinade, except the mustard oil, in a blender and turn it into a fine paste. Mix this marinade and the chicken well, sprinkle the mustard oil on top and set aside for atleast an hour. For best results marinate overnight.

Heat mustard oil to smoking, and fry the potatoes till the edges start turning light brown.

Keep enough oil in the kadhai to fry the onions, and once the oil is smoking hot, add the ingredients for the phoron, before they have a chance to burn, add the onions, half a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of sugar.

Fry onions on high heat, stirring frequently, until onions start turning brown, but don't brown them too thoroughly.

Add the chicken, marinade and all, stir for a minute or so on high heat. Once that’s done, you can lower the flame, and cover the kadhai, and allow the chicken to cook. It will release a lot of water, and continue to cook slowly.

During this stage, do keep checking every 10 minutes, and giving the chicken a stir, otherwise all the masala pastes will settle and stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once all the water has evaporated, and the oil comes out from the sides, add two heaped teaspoons of the “Railway Masala Powder” and stir well. You may raise heat to medium at this stage if you feel like it, but be careful. There is almost no moisture in the kadhai, so everything will have a tendency to stick to the kadhai and burn.

Add the potatoes, two cups of hot water, bring to a boil, cover and cook till the potatoes soften.

You can figure out if the potatoes are cooked through by poking them with the handle of steel teaspoon. The spoon should go right through a potato if it’s well cooked. Once that’s done, raise heat and reduce gravy to desired consistency.

Taste the gravy. Check the salt. The thicker the gravy, the saltier it gets, so if you find there’s slightly less salt but you intend to thicken the gravy further, don’t add any salt just then. Remember, with salt, it’s always better if there’s a little less, you can just add more later. Once you put in too much, you’re pretty much screwed.

Serve with steamed rice.

NOTES

Remeber to crush the whole spices a little, particularly the cardamom, or it'll explode when you put it in hot oil.

Kashmiri Red Chilli powder is just for colour and does not have much potency, so you don’t need to be too scared to use it.

Potatoes tend to absorb a lot of water when left in gravy. So if you leave this dish sitting for a long time, you’ll find it’s dried out a bit. Just add a little water and reheat in the microwave.

For the water, keep an electric kettle handy. You could of course use cold water, and it'll work. BUt adding cold water lowers the temperature of the kadhai, and some say it affects the taste of the dish.

Serves 3
Preparation time - 1.5 hours
Cooking time - 1 hour

Bong Chilli Chicken

There is nothing even remotely Chinese about the Chilli Chicken that is served in most Chinese restaurants in Calcutta, that we Bongs so love and cannot do without. Yet, it has become an essential part of our cuisine, and we have found a million different ways to cook it. Most restaurants make a pakora out of boneless chicken, and then prepare a sauce with onions, capsicum, garlic and the most essential ingredient, soy sauce. I have my own way, which I think is slightly healthier, since it avoids deep frying completely. It is simple and straightforward and produces reliable results, if the recipe is followed closely.

Although this isn’t an authentic Chinese dish, I do use authentic ingredients, and for the right taste, it is essential that you find these, especially the dark and light soy sauces. Light soy sauce is light only in colour, it has an extremely strong flavor, and is very very salty, so salty infact, that it is used instead of salt. Dark soy sauce is much less salty, and is used mostly for colour. Try and find soy sauces made in an around south east Asia, if not China. Another ingredient is the green chilli sauce, which is crucial. In Calcutta, the best brand is the one made by Pou Chong Brothers.

INGREDIENTS

Boneless chicken – 300-400 gms, cut into medium sized pieces

Light Soy Sauce – 4 tablespoons

Dark Soy Sauce – 2 tablespoons

Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Green Chilli Sauce – 2 tablespoons

Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 2 tablespoons

Onions, diced – 1 cup

Green Capsicum, diced – 1 cup

Green chillies, chopped into large peices – ½ cup

Cornflour – 1 teaspoon, dissolved in ¼ cup of water

White oil for cooking - 4 - 6 tablespoons

Hot water for gravy

NO SALT!!! That's right, NO SALT!!!

METHOD

• Marinate the chicken with the light soy sauce, green chilli sauce, vinegar, ginger and garlic pastes, and 1 tablespoon of black pepper powder for atleast an hour. I usually marinate the chicken overnight.
• After atleast an hour, heat oil in kadhai to smoking, and add the chicken with the marinade, and stir on high flame for a minute. Add the dark soy sauce, reduce flame to low, cover and allow the chicken to cook down, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing stick to the bottom of the kadhai.
• The chicken will release a lot of water, once this water has died down, and the oil seperates at the sides, raise heat and add the capsicum. Stir around for a minute, and then add green chillies and onions. Stir well for half a minute and then add ¾ cup hot water and mix well to make gravy.
• Once the gravy starts to boil, add the corn flour mixture and stir well. The gravy will thicken immediately and a glaze will appear.
• Once this happens, add the remaining black pepper, stir and immediately turn off flame.

Serve with steamed rice.

Serves – 3

Preparation time 1 hour

Cooking time – 45 minutes

Headbanger’s Delight Chicken Curry

This dish was inspired by India’s only heavy metal chef, Sahil “Demonstealer” Makhija, and is my take on his Black Label Chicken Curry. You can check out the original recipe here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7RyN6n8-RU

Both Sahil’s show and band, Demonic Resurrection, are very very cool, and I find his cookery show, Headbanger’s Kitchen to be tremendously inspiring.

Now, if you’re ready to cook with me, we shall begin by preparing the ingredients

INGREDIENTS

Boneless Chicken –350 grams (approx), cut into medium sized pieces.

FOR THE MARINADE

Plain yoghurt (non sweetened) – 150 grams

Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala powder – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – 1 teaspoon

FOR THE PHORON

Whole cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Whole black pepper – 1 teaspoon

Bay leaf – 1 large

FOR THE GRAVY

Onion – 1 large, finely chopped

Tomato – 1 large, finely chopped

Green chillies – 2, medium sized, slit but not deseeded

FOR GARNISHING

Fresh Coriander leaves, finely chopped – a handfull

Oil for cooking

Salt

Hot water

METHOD

Blend together all the marinade ingredients into a smooth paste, mix well with raw chicken and set aside for atleast an hour. For best results, marinate overnight. Just mix the chicken and marinade, cover well, and leave in the refrigerator (not freezer)

Heat about 4 tablespoons of oil to smoking. I use rice bran oil. You can use any white oil, not olive oil. If you’re using ghee, do not heat it to smoking, just ensure it is hot enough so that the phoron ingredients sizzle.

Once oil is heated, add the phoron ingredients, give them a quick stir, and before anything has a chance to burn, add the onions.Phoron is also known as "chhok".

Add a spoon of salt, and fry onions till they just start turning brown. Don’t wait for them to completely turn brown though.

Now add the chopped tomato and green chillies and stir, lower heat to low, cover and let it cook for 5 minutes atleast.

Once the onions have sort of broken down, and begin to look kinda mushy, raise heat to high and add the chicken, marinade and all. Stir well for a couple of minutes, lower heat to low, cover and let it cook for about half an hour.

While the chicken is cooking, do remember to stir it at 5 or 10 minute intervals. We’re using a lot of masala paste, and those will have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan and get burnt if you aren’t careful.

While all this is happening, heat 2 cups of water to boiling and keep ready.

This process of cooking on a low flame, with the cover on, is called “kosha”, it gives a very rich flavor to the dish, and the sign that the process has been completed is that the oil separates at the sides. Once you see that happening, raise the heat, quickly add the water, stir thoroughly, and bring the curry to a boil.

Lower heat to medium, cover and allow the curry to cook for another 5 minutes.

Taste a spoon of gravy at this point, and make sure you added enough salt. Remember two things. One, if you added less salt, you can always add more later, but once you add too much, it’s difficult to correct. Two, the more you thicken a gravy, the saltier it gets, since it’s getting more and more concentrated.

Raise heat, and reduce gravy to desired consistency, add the chopped coriander, give it a quick stir, and take it off the flame.

Serve with steamed rice.

Serves 4

Prep time – 30 minutes

Cooking time – 45 minutes