Cheat’s Guide to Chicken Ghee Roast

Before I write anything about the recipe, I want to say that it’s been more than a couple of years now since I’ve posted any recipes. My son is a little big boy now and I can manage to find some time to blog again! So here I am back with a recipe. 

Chicken Ghee Roast is another popular dish from my hometown Mangalore. And I must tell you, a Sunday Afternoon lunch with Chicken Ghee Roast and Neer Dosa or even plain Steamed Rice is just divine! So here’s my version of Chicken Ghee Roast- the Cheat’s way. 

Traditionally it is made by dry roasting whole spices and then blending it into a paste. Here’s my version where I use powdered spices which saves a lot of time, however the end result tastes exactly the same. Here’s my recipe for Chicken Ghee Roast: 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Lime
• 1 Sprig Curry Leaves 
• 1/2 Cup Curd
• A Pinch of Turmeric Powder 
• 2 tsp Paprika or Kashmiri Chilli Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder 
• 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder 
• Salt to Taste
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1-2 tbsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)
• 350gms Chicken 
• 1 medium size Onion chopped 

Method:

In a mixing bowl add the Curd, Lime Juice, Turmeric Powder, Paparika (Kashmiri Chilli Powder), Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Salt and Ginger Garlic Paste. Mix well. 

Now Add the Chicken and allow it to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Heat a pan and add the Ghee ( Clarified Butter) and add the chopped onion. Sauté on medium heat until they turn slight golden. 

Now add the marinated Chicken and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Lower the heat after 10 minutes and cook on low heat for 10 more minutes. 

Now add the Curry Leaves and cook for 5 more minutes or until the chicken is well cooked. 

The Taste Has It!

Everyone has been taught about the five sense organs in their elementary schools. Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste and Touch. Each of which has it’s own importance. It’s so difficult to picture oneself without them. Food is something that has to do with all of them. When you look at a cake with a colorful icing on top, it calls you. When you Bite into a crunchy cookie and start chewing, it sounds like music. When you just open the lid of a Dum Biryani, feels like you’re in heaven. When you tear a piece of warm soft Naan, you can already sense how comforting would get once it lands in your mouth and of course the taste… well, I’m confused about which dish to quote this time! Because anything cooked to perfection with love, ought to taste good!!

So what does it take to cook something nice? I believe having a good taste for food is what you need. That’s how I learnt how to cook. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, me being a Mangalorean and married to a Punjabi family….of course is a boon…but it gave me shivers when I entered the kitchen. I was so confused about which cuisine to cook. Punjabi or Mangalorean. ‘To be or not to be’. So I started cooking Chinese!! I still remember, the first meal I cooked once I was married was Chinese Fried Rice!! Didn’t taste good at all. But everyone succeeded in telling me it was quite good.  Well that’s the support you need when you hold a spatula for the first time, no matter how bad you cook.

My husband and I kept going on lunch and dinner dates very often. We still do. That’s when I started developing love for good food. Anything that tasted good made me happy. So confused with cuisines, I decided to stick on to taste. My target was not deciding what to cook but trying to make what ever I cook, taste good. Knowledge about how good something should taste is essential because, you then can decide how much of each ingredient to get into your pan. Food is designed to please to whom it is served.

Take for example the so called ‘Chinese Food’ we get in India. Every Street has a Chinese Laari and it’s available all year round, every single day. Every Indian College student mark their favorite Chinese Laari. It’s Cheap and tastes super good!! Back in 2006-2007 when I was in college I remember paying just Rs.15 and getting a bowl full of Hakka Noodles and that bowl of noodles was good enough to satisfy a group of 3-4 people. Manchurian and Chili used to be awesome!! But the strange thing is it tastes and looks nothing like Chinese food. Of course there’s the noodles, but it’s seasoned to suit Indians who like everything ‘Chatpata’. But what matters is how good it tastes. So the lesson is plan your food according to whom you serve it to. And only your tongue or your taste can help you through cooking. That’s the reason why every recipe says ‘Salt to Taste’. So, trust your taste and Keep Cooking!

Genesis

I’ve been cooking for 6 years now. I’ve made a journey from not knowing how much salt to add to bringing a smile on my husband’s face each time he eats what I cook. Well nothing could be more flattering! One thing that’s common between my husband and I is we LOVE food!! Nothing can be more comforting than having appetizing food in your mouth. I believe if you want to be a good cook, you ought to love eating good food. It’s very important to know how good something can taste because; only then can you follow or replicate a recipe. You will know how exactly your food should taste once it’s done.

My expedition with food began six years ago when I got married. I knew nothing at all. I remember standing next to my mother-in-law in the kitchen and passing salt and chili powder as she cooked. I just watched her for weeks and the eventually started my own experiments with food. I did watch my mom cook too when I was younger but never tried cooking. By the time my interest grew towards cooking, my mom was no more. But the memories of her cooking are still fresh. The aroma of the tempering she made and the sizzling sound it made when she poured it over the curry still lingers in my mind.

My mother’s a South Indian, a Mangalorean and my mother-in-law is a North Indian, a Punjabi and guess who gets the best of both worlds? Of course me! The added advantage is we live in Gujarat. So I’ve been eating a lot of khaman dhokla as well though not cooked much. Also having eating in various restaurants with my husband I’ve also developed interest in other cuisines. So join me and my adventures of cooking here on my blog – Saffron Chronicles.