See that? Looks pretty delumptious doesn’t it? [delicious + scrumptious; I got that from Zach in Goodnight Mr. Tom].

Anyways, nowadays whenever I have to cook something that requires a recipe, I always write it down on little post-its and stick it on the chopping board (or the side of the oven, or the rice cooker, or the knife holder…)
Pretty nifty right? It prevents them from getting lost (blown by the wind, eaten by your cat, the list goes on) and you don’t have to flip through pages to find out what to do next.

So today I’m making Chicken Achaari, a recipe I picked up from Sunil Vijayakar’s “30-Minute Indian” cookbook. The first time I tasted this dish was in Farhan’s house. Incidentally he was also the one who gave the me book, so that’s something positively providential for you. This one went through a view stages of modifications since not all the spices can be found, but the taste comes pretty close to the authentic one.

Chicken Achaari:

[2 tablespoons veg.oil + 1/2 tsp each of cumin, black mustard seeds, nigella (onion) seeds, fennel seeds, coriander + 1 tsp grated root ginger + 1 tsp chilli powder + 2 garlic cloves + 1 onion + 200 ml chicken stock + 2 tablespoons tomato puree + 250g of chicken  thighs/wings]

**When in spice crisis:

Like I was while I was making this, be clever. Use the internet and find yourself a spice substitution chart. For this recipe, spice modifications were as follows:

- Didn’t have any fennel seeds, so I “upped” the cumin to 1 tsp.

- Didn’t have any nigella (onion) seeds, so I used celery seeds (the one near the chilli powder)

- Completely omitted black mustard seeds

So I’ll admit that this will taste a little less authentic, but what can you do? I wasn’t about to run around looking for seeds that I wasn’t sure I’ll even find :\

So, moving on…

Chop garlic & onion finely

Grate the ginger

Get (or make) some tomato puree

Heat oil, add seeds, stir fry for 1 min

Add onion, garlic cloves and ginger (I added some chopped red chillies as well)

Add tomato puree

Add stock

Let sauce simmer

Add in chicken (I marinated my chicken pieces in the tomato puree for a bit, feel free to omit the marinating step)

Pop on the lid, simmer and let it cook for about 10-15 mins (depending on chicken size)

While the chicken was cooking, skim off the fat or oil that accumulates in the surface by using a spoon.

In the meantime, I made some puris to serve it with.

Puris:

[225 chapatti flour + 1 tsp chilli powder + 1 tsp sea salt + 1-2 tablespoons water]

When the time has elapsed, take off the lid and voila!

Plate them nicely and eat! (or in my case, take a picture)

Enjoy!