As the much-needed sunlight piercing through the window, creating a warm and cosy mood, my son was casually flipping through the crisp new pages of his first Amar Chitra Katha book (a popular Indian publisher of graphic novels for children). He suddenly paused with a grave look on his face, saying, “Mummum, I don’t enjoy Raja Rani stories (Mother I don’t enjoy fairy tales).” For a moment I was in a state of denial. Although the book is about history and not fairy tales, however, I was finding it hard, how a six-year-old child cannot enjoy stories filled with magics, valour, romance and most importantly endless possibilities.
Well, it took me a while and not too long to realise, my science-cum-computer-cum-television-cum tape recorder-cum-car-cum-mobile-cum-mixer grinder enthusiast son is different from his mother. All the stories of kings, demons, princesses, Gods do not fascinate him. He is more interested in knowing the story of CPU or understanding the working of engine, than to know how the kings in the past conducted themselves, or what the queen’s quarters looked like in the vast and flourishing kingdom.
Yes. This is me. I have always been fascinated by the lives of kings and queens. It always fascinates me to imagine how not only these kings and queens, but people in the past used to spend their lives. Probably, this is the fascination, which has always kept my interest in history going. Being it fact or fiction, I am always drawn towards books or movies which depict life in the past. This fascination with past has always pushed me to connect the present, and draw a logic of surroundings probably of my own, confined to my own mind. This is the fascination only, which has embarked me on a never-ending journey of knowledge related to pasts. Being it clothes to traditions to cultures to foods, I take a special interest when anything has a history to tell.
Thus, it is obvious that my first cookbook should be something which has a history in it. Hence, I choose none other than ‘Thakur Barir Ranna’ by Purnima Devi, the grand-niece of nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The book is a fine collection and combination of traditional recipes and recipes from diverse cultures, imbibing a global sensibility. It is said that she took inspiration from her aunt Indira Devi, who herself was inspired from her well-travelled mother Jnanodanandini Devi.
Among the treasures from the book, I chose the dish ‘Mangsho Shorshebata Diye,’ turned to ‘Shorshe Chicken Or Chicken In Mustard Sauce,’ as my first recipe inspired from this book. The simplicity of the recipe along with the unique combination of mustard sauce and chicken are more than enough to push even an amateur cook to kitchen.
So, here is your turn to experience history through your kitchen.
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Recipe: Shorshe Chicken Or Chicken in Mustard Sauce
Preparation Time: 18 minutes Marination Time: 2 hours (chicken to be marinated for at-least 1 hour) Pressure Cooking Time: 15 minutes Steaming Chicken: Approximately 30 minutes Equipment Used: Sil Batta (Batan & Una), pressure cooker, big bowl to wash and marinate chicken, steel tiffin box, big pan to hold tiffin box Yield: Serves 6-7 bowls
Ingredients:
- 1 kg chicken
- 1 garlic
- ½ cup curd
- 1 and ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
- 2 green chillies
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil
Method:
- If refrigerated, take out the chicken 1 hour in advance for thawing
- Clean the chicken under running water after the pieces are thawed
- Peel the garlic cloves and crush them
- Add curd and crushed garlic to the chicken pieces, followed by ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon sugar
- Keep the chicken pieces covered to marinate for at-least 1 hour after massaging the chicken pieces with the above-mentioned ingredients and keeping them covered
- After 1 hour, uncover the bowl and transfer the chicken pieces to a pressure cooker
- Pressure cook the chicken pieces till 1 whistle
- In the meantime, grind the mustard seeds with 1 green chilli to a smooth paste
- When the chicken pieces are pressure cooked, transfer the content of the pressure cooker to a steel tiffin box
- Add the mustard paste along with 1 teaspoon salt to the chicken pieces
- Mix the ingredients with the chicken pieces properly and pour mustard oil on top of the mix followed by a slit green chilli
- Close the lid of the tiffin box and place the tiffin box on a big bowl or a pan with 1 inch water
- Place the pan with tiffin box on gas fire or stove, and let the chicken pieces cook on steam
- Switch off the flame or remove the pan from heat after half an hour
Clean the chicken after the pieces are thawed.
Peel and crush the garlic cloves.
Marinate the chicken pieces for at-least 1 hour after massaging the chicken pieces with curd, crushed garlic, salt and sugar
After 1 hour, transfer the chicken pieces to a pressure cooker and pressure cook the chicken till 1 whistle.
Grind the mustard seeds with 1 green chilli to a smooth paste.
When the chicken pieces are pressure cooked, transfer the content of the pressure cooker to a steel tiffin box.
Add the mustard paste along with 1 teaspoon salt to the chicken pieces.
Pour mustard oil on top of the mix.
Add slit green chilli.
Close the lid of the tiffin box and place the tiffin box on a big bowl or a pan with water.
Place the pan with tiffin box on gas fire or stove, and let the chicken pieces cook on steam for half an hour.
Few deviations from original recipe
- The original recipe does not ask for adding salt in the beginning. I have added salt along with sugar to balance the sourness of curd. Also, the original recipe does not need sugar as an ingredient
- The original recipe does not call for pressure cooking the chicken but boiling till no water is left
Tips:
- No need to add extra water while pressure cooking the chicken. The juice from chicken along with curd is enough to cook the chicken
- Add water little by little while grinding mustard seeds on sil batta
- You may grind the mustard seeds in a grinder. But the paste might taste bitter
- While steaming, put the flame on maximum. Immediately reduce the flame to minimum, once bubbles form in water
- Don’t open the tiffin box immediately after switching off the flame. Wait for 10 minutes before opening the tiffin box
