Food Talk
Tandoor special

Roasted chicken in the clay oven is an integral part of pan-Indian cuisine. Pushpesh Pant on the king of kebab that has patrons in all continents

Bhuna murg afghani Ingredients Chicken 1 kg cut into 8-10 pieces Ghee 125 gm Onions 100 gm ground to paste Ginger paste 1 tbs Red chillies 1 ½ tsp Cardamom seeds ½ tsp Curd well beaten 100 gm Garlic paste 1 tbs Clove 1/4th tsp Lime juice 1 tbs Cream 100 gm Salt to taste Method Wash, pat dry and pierce the chicken pieces with a fork. Marinate well for 3 hours with curd, garlic, ginger and onion paste and cream. Remove and drain the excess marinate. Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and cook covered on very low heat without adding any water or roast in an oven till well browned. There is nothing like the good old tandoor, though if you have one around the portable or the gas variety do use it. The electrical grill or the charcoal fired barbeque also produces excellent results.

THE world over tandoori murg has been recognised as the king of kebab. There are many other contenders, the sublime and subtle gilawat ke kebab-tunde ke kakori and dora as well as the sheekampuri shaami, or the delectable burrah but such is the mystique that all others have for years paled into background when confronted with the real McCoy.

Tandoori murg was made famous when the grandchildren of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were sent more than a mouthful to celebrate their birthdays away from home in London. The restaurant that basked in the spotlight was Moti Mahal in Dariaganj managed by the venerable Kundan Lal. Chicken ala tandoori became a rage almost overnight as tandoor, the clay oven, spread all over the land with the influx of refugees from west Punjab. It was not long before it became an integral part of the pan-Indian cuisine.

Today it is encountered from Ladakh to Cochin and Kutch to Kohima. There are tandoori-specialty outlets in all continents. Scholars have painstakingly researched the origins of the tandoor to the Indus Valley civilisation.

Almost zilch fat is used in the cooking and the white meat can be indulged in quite recklessly even in the leanest and meanest of diets. It is barbeque fair and finger food that is at the same time spicy and nutritious. The only problem is that our palates begin to jade and look for variety. There is no dearth of people who today find fault with the good-old tandoori merge.

What puts off the trendy young studs is the colour not shocking pink but flaming red. Even when reassured that blistering red chillies are not involved, only the most intrepid reach for the leg or the breast without some hesitation. Edible colours, to mix metaphors are not everyone’s cup of tea. Dozens of chicken skewered on the seekh are not a very appetising sight.

Demolishing a tandoori chicken requires deep bites and deft wristwork to pull and keep the flavourful morsels inside the mouth without drooling in an unseemly manner. There are many who like their tandoori chicken unadorned in a less garish avtaar. And this is where Bhuna murg Afghani makes a dramatic debut. The hue is cream and light pink, the aroma enticingly redolent of cloves, cardamoms and cinnamon. There is more than a suggestion of the Hyderabadi dum ka murg. Good friend Jiggs likes to call it "the shampooed tandoori" but that is an aside.

The recipe we share with our readers this time is from the repertoire of Tauseef Miyaan who gave up his doctoral research to pursue his first love good food and is at present busy titillating the taste buds of JNU’ites, heavy-duty researchers and civil service aspirants on the red brick campus. The chicken tastes so good that no one has the time to reflect that the Afghan pathans prefer red meat to white and chooza is almost a word of abuse for a timid adolescent in a macho male dominated culture.

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