Food Talk
 Chicken song

Murgh dilruba is easy to prepare, and is light and healthy, says Pushpesh Pant

CHEF’S SPECIAL
Ingredients
Medium chicken (jointed, skinned and washed) one
Medium onions (sliced thin) two
Curds 100 ml
Garlic paste 1 tbsp
Ginger paste 1 tbsp
Zeera powder 1 tsp
Dhaniya powder 1 tsp
Garam masala ½ tsp
Dried mint powder ½ tsp
Mixed herbs (dried) one pinch
Whole red chillies (wiped and broken into small pieces) 2
Peppercorns ½ tsp
Beans 100 gm
Medium tomatoes 100 gm
Medium capsicums 2
Butter/oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method
Prepare a marinade mixing all the ingredients except the chicken, onions, vegetables and the butter/oil in a bowl. Place the chicken in it ensuring that all the pieces are well coated and keep aside for an hour. Cut the tomatoes in quarters, core the capsicums and cut into eight pieces each. String the beans and cut into bite size pieces. Heat the butter in a thick-bottomed pan and put the chicken along with the marinade into it. Let it come to boil, stir well, reduce flame to medium, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or till done to taste. (If in great hurry you may use a pressure cooker and cook till one whistle). Lay a thin film of oil or butter on a non-stick frying pan and scorch the capsicums, tomatoes and beans in it. Arrange the vegetables on top of the cooked chicken and serve with roti or rice. 

The Bard tells us, “If music be the food of love, play on.” There are some among us who treat food to be musical, if not quite a substitute for love. One friend recently baffled us with the query, “Have you tried the dilruba?” One immediately recalled the stringed musical instrument—now almost extinct—that easily puts in shade israj and sarangi with its poignant notes. 

Our confused response was, ‘What do you mean by ‘tried’? Of course we have heard it played many moons ago.’ The foodie friend guffawed. Patiently he explained that what he had in mind was not the musical instrument but murgh dilruba.

He continued to wax eloquent for a while longer. Aren’t there days when one yearns to tease the jaded palate with something different—there is the desire to flirt with the exotic without forsaking the familiar? Murgh dilruba created by that tireless innovator Indrajit is just the dish to quell stirrings of such semi-sinful appetites. Well, we lost no time in discovering the old chicken in its latest (for us) garb and must confess that it does justice to its name—it succeeds in plucking the ‘heart-strings’ of diners quite effortlessly. It is easy to prepare, light and healthy with outstanding eye appeal.

The inclusion of vegetables gives the dish a refreshing crunch and balance. The pinch of mixed herbs brings in the fusion with stealth and strong seductive impulse. We were tempted to toy with multi-hued sweet bell peppers but are glad that in the end good sense prevailed. Simple dignified elegance of dilruba in culinary or musical domain does not brook any loudness.

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