My Noname Chicken Curry .... the spicy, tangy and oh! so good kind

 

 Ever since I have started posting on Instagram, I have turned lazy when it comes to laying the table and setting up a place for photographs.
Not to mention the respite from the constant struggle with natural light.
And the fact that we have moved the dining table to another end of the living room ... away from the windows ..... is not helping too.
Which explains the sudden lack of photographs, now that I am raring to make some posts.

As I was going through my folders today,  I found these photos that I had taken on the iphone, for Insta, as usual.
And remembered that this curry had come out very well.
One look and I could remember that tangy, spicy gravy .... it was indeed good.
This was actually a result of indecisiveness and a little experiment.

Now, since I cook chicken rather frequently, and most of the time just marinate and dump the whole thing in a kadahi or pressure cooker or the oven, to cook on its own, I was getting tired of the same way of cooking.
I do use different kinds of sauces or masalas etc. at different times, but I had wanted to eat something really different this time.
Something that I would not recognise as cooked by me.
Hilarious .... I know.
But then, at times I do feel like eating food cooked by someone else .... and that does not mean eating at restaurants.

So what I had planned to do was to sear the chicken ... that has been sitting in some lemon juice for a while .... till brown, and then add spicy sauces to it.
Yeah ... I wanted to kill the already dead bird real well.
But then, as I went ahead with my cooking, things started to go very differently.

I had, initially, wanted to add tomatoes ( I rarely use tomatoes in my dishes, hence have no idea why I wanted to now) but forgot to add it.
While searing it in the pan, I decided to add Chinese sauces but forgot to do that too.
Instead, added turmeric and red chilli powder. My mind must have been somewhere else.
So now, to balance it, went ahead and added garam masala powder.
And watched in dismay as the curry was going exactly the way I did not want it to.

Adamant at not letting the chicken have its way, I threw in some Maharashtrian kanda lahsun masala too. Hoping that the onion and garlic as well as the coconut in the fiery masala will help deviate from the current path.

I also added a potato .... the Bengali in me wants a potato in her chicken jhol after all ....  and after the chicken was cooked, added another big squirt of lemon.
And just before covering it again, went ahead and added the chilli and a little soy sauce too.

And that is the end of the story.
I had no idea what to call it ... hence the name Noname.
But boy! did it turn out right!!
And lip smacking good.

And oh ... the ginger garlic paste is in the marination and the salt and sugar and cooking oil go in by default. 

I hope you try it.
With some plain rice, it was an absolute delight in every mouthful .


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Cheerio all!!