Coming from a strict vegetarian family, I never got the chance to dabble into this side of culinary adventures. Probably this is the reason I find Indian non-vegetarian dishes a bit complicated. I don’t know why I never get that proportion of spices right. And that is when I surely can count on my friends. There is a friend of mine, Mona, who cooks these curries so beautifully, that all the spices are always in a right proportion, neither too bland, nor too spicy to burn your mouth or underlips. God knows what magic she does. Probably it is her patience and devotion which she pour into every single dish she prepares for us.

And it’s been a while she’s been throwing dinner parties at her home, inviting us to indulge into these wonderful recipes of hers. I always felt the desire to share her creations to you all, but never got a chance before. But this time I managed to coax her to prepare a dish exclusively for my blog. The day had already been decided one week in advance, and so was this wonderful simple one pot recipe. Yes you are reading it correct, Indian dishes could also be cooked in a single pot. The simplicity and the beautiful aroma of herbs and spices, juices and tenderness of the chicken and the mild infusion of the burning coal’s smoke makes this dish divine. Perhaps those are flavors which gods enjoy in heaven. I would have asked my friend to present this dish here, by herself, but she’s quite shy of displaying her talent on this public forum. So this post is kind of a pseudo-guest-post. But ultimately her talent gets presented off, and I am happy about this.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken cut into small pieces (with/without bones)
1/2 kg curd
250 gm mint leaves
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
black salt as per taste
freshly ground pepper as per taste
For smoking chicken :
a small piece of charcoal
1 tbsp of ghee/melted clarified butter

Instructions

1. Clean and rinse the chicken thoroughly under running tap water.
2. Take a large non stick vessel with lid and put all the ingredients inside except those for smoking the chicken.
3. Using your hands mix the ingredients well.
4. Cover the vessel with lid and let simmer for 30 minutes on low flame until chicken is cooked through.
5. Uncover the vessel and let the extra juices dry off and take the vessel off the flame.
6. Take the charcoal and burn it on high flame for 5 minutes, till is starts to look burning hot red.
7. Place a small clean iron bowl in the middle of vessel, surrounded by cooked chicken.
8. Place the charcoal in the metal bowl carefully with the help of tongs.
9. Pour the melted ghee or butter over the charcoal and immediately cover the vessel, preventing the smoke to escape from the vessel.
10. Let the chicken stand and infused with the smoke for 5 minutes. Uncover and pour the ghee from the metal bowl over the chicken using a spoon.
11. Enjoy it hot as an appetizer or with a piece of tandoori butter naan bread and fresh mint and coriander chutney.