Murgh Malai Tikka/ No Spice, Creamy Chicken Kebabs

*****

I lived in Delhi, rather New Delhi in two phases. First as a student in  the JNU campus for three years and then as a working professional for two years. I used to work for a human rights organisation and loved every minute most of it. 

Life was busy, no life was super busy. Since the organisation did crisis response; we were always on our toes. Our Delhi office was/is a crazy place, hyper active and chaotic, thriving on energy and adrenaline surges. In the middle of all the lawyers, rights activists and social workers, I was the lone ex-academic who seemed to have accidentally strayed into the world of activitism. 

I was always dumped with all the writing and managing jobs which the others in their action packed days of fighting court cases, rescuing victims, doing public meetings, training judges never had/found the time to do. For a Ph.D. drop-out used to spending days in musty libraries, breaking my head trying to understand opaque theories and labouring over essays, thesis, bibliographies...my job seemed pretty easy, fun even.

Soon after joining the organisation I was baffled. I could not understand the stress people faced before going in to meet the big boss. Often we could hear screams from the big boss's chamber and papers being thrown. People who went in mostly came out with long faces, sometimes in tears. My time to take in  a report I was working on came one late afternoon. I marched in, confident about the work I had done, yet a little terrified. Fortunately for me the big boss  liked my writing and approved of the report. Unfortunately it meant more and more work.

Along the line I discovered a boss who gave the term workaholic a new definition yet could be a lot of fun, did not suffer fools at all, loved teasing people, persisted in calling me 'Sushi' knowing full well it irritated me, raided my desk for food and mostly saved his screams for others.

I was basically an overworked and underpaid professional. But I was not alone, so were all my colleagues. We were all grossly underpaid and mostly overworked. Though we cribbed about it endlessly, we did not mind much deep down. The satisfaction of working in the development sector, helping people in need, being in the middle of action, never getting the time to get bored was compensation enough.

In the Delhi office we were mostly single, aged between early twenties to mid thirties and life was basically one long party. I shared a fantastic terrace flat with two girls from office, which was just a block away from our office. So it was the official party place and man the rocking parties we have had there. If not a full blown party, a group of friends would hang out together after office every evening. Because our salaries were meagre we soon learned to have low cost fun.

In retrospect, I think the Delhi chapter of our lives could easily be turned into a chick lit. There was friendship, romance, heartbreak, dramatics, fights, companionship, struggle....the list goes on. Most of us have moved on, few friends still remain there.

*****

Few months back I came across an episode of Bikramjit Ray's Secret Kitchen where he went to the Bukhara Restaurant (among the world's 50 best restaurants) in New Delhi to try out their signature dish-- Murgh Malai Tikka. Now this is one of those restaurants which would have never been in our budget. But Bukhara being Bukhara I had read about it in lots of places. So I was curious. The recipe seemed fairly simple except that I did not have a tandoor. Taking the basic recipe, I tweaked it further and over the trials I have discovered a really easy to make yet one of the best chicken kebabs I have ever had. This is that dish you can quickly rustle up for a tasty dinner or wow your guests with. I am waiting to try this on the barbecue during summer. 

Ingredients:

500 gm  skinless, boneless chicken cut into cubes (I use thigh pieces)
A bunch of coriander stalks finely cut (used chives as well)
1 medium onion cut into cubes
1 medium pepper similarly cut into cubes (to make it colourful I use parts of green, red, yellow or orange peppers)
Half a cup of puréed processed cheese (I use home made cottage cheese)
4 to 6 table spoons of milk
( preferably whole milk)
1 and 1/2 tea spoon cornflour
1/2 tea spoons of ginger and garlic paste each
Yolk of 1 egg (adds colour)
Couple of green chillies finely sliced (can de-seed them to lower the heat quotient, apart from the heat, the chillies add a lovely smell and a depth to the dish)
Salt to taste
Oil spray
Approx 4 steel or bamboo skewers (if using bamboo ones please soak these in water for an hour at least before using these, otherwise the skewers may burn)
Lime juice and chopped cilantro for garnish


Method:

Switch on your oven to the highest possible. You can also do this in your BBQ machine or if you have a tandoor that would be ideal. Can also be done on the stove top in a non stick pan. Need about 2 table spoons of oil for frying in that case.

Make the marinade by first mixing the cheese, milk (adding it a little at a time), cornflour, ginger and garlic paste, chillies, coriander stalks and salt. Make sure the marinade is not runny. Add the chicken and veggies pieces and marinate for half an hour or so.

After half an hour, arrange the skewers, brush the chicken and veggies with egg yolk, spray some cooking oil and  put it inside the oven. Please reduce the temperature to 150 degree Celsius. Grill till the chicken pieces turn light/golder brown (roughly 20 mins to half an hour, but then ovens vary, so please keep checking).

Serving Tips:

A good squeeze of lime juice and some cilantro to garnish the kebabs. Serve it with a side salad as a starter or make it the main meal with a big salad.

Taste:

Milk makes the chicken pieces really soft, the cheese turns a lovely brown and adds its own flavour, the cornflour holds the whole thing together and egg yolk gives a lovely golden colour and makes the kababs silky smooth. Since there are no spices added in this kebab, the taste of milk and cheese dominate which is what gives this kabab a unique taste. No wonder this is Bukhara's signature dish. I wish I could make this for my Delhi friends and have another party in our beloved terrace on a balmy spring evening.

Hope you had a good Holi and did get the time for do something special  for yourself to celebrate Women's Day. Check out this special sari clad lady riding on a broom here.