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THOSE who love chicken have varied preferences. Some grab the tangri while others are only content with the breasts. We have even come across a gentleman who thought nothing compares with the thighs. But this isn’t meant to be an anatomy lesson, so let’s proceed. The divide between the desi murgi lovers and addicted to more convenient broilers or ‘croilers’ is well known. Few are aware of the existence of the subset of gourmets who think that a squab chicken or chooza tastes best. To be honest, we had ourselves forgotten this till we were served a delightful chooza sada dumdaar at an old schoolmate’s house. Size does matter in this case. (A large bird weighing more than two kilos was once offered to us as a bargain but our joy for stealing the deal was short lived. The Titanic murg, that looked like a baby shutur murg (ostrich), took two hours to cook and tasted like shoe soles. Give the chooza the dum treatment and see what you have been missing. We are toying with the idea of trying a musallam with it to be served individually to diners. Method Clean wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Carefully pierce with a fork all over or slash with a sharp knife. Rub all over with the yoghurt mixed with powdered spices, except mace powder and garlic-ginger paste. Keep aside for at least two hours. Peel and slice onion very finely. Heat oil/ghee in a pan and put whole bay leaf with the whole spices in it. When these begin to change colour, add the onions and stir fry on medium heat till these are translucent. Don’t let the onions brown. Put in the chooza, along with salt and the marinade and cook covered on low medium heat for about 20 minutes or till done to taste. Stir once or twice during the cooking and sprinkle a spoonfull of water, if necessary. Sprinkle over with the mace powder just before serving. Let the diners ‘chooze’ their favourite chooza pieces. Chooza Saada Dumdaar Ingredients Chicken (skin removed 650-750 gm and jointed)
Garlic-ginger paste 1 tsp Curds ¼ cup Bay leaf one Cinnamon ½ inch piece Brown cardamom one Cloves 2-3 Cumin powder ½ tsp Coriander seeds powder 1tsp Red chilli powder ¼ tsp Oil/ghee 2 tbsp A pinch of mace powder Salt to taste
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Onion (medium-sized) one