Of Chicken 65 and Rajnikanth Flicks

Today’s dish Chicken 65, is the second best thing to come out from Chennai. The first being Rajnikanth.  And just like Rajnikanth, it is humble, is unassuming, has a huge fan base, and above all, manages to quietly steal the show from everything else at the table. There is a bit of history thrown in behind the invention of the chicken 65, which goes something like this.

Many years ago, a customer walked into a small little restaurant in Chennai and asked to be served a meal. Now, it was around closing time; but not wanting to send back a hungry customer, the owner ordered the chef to quickly prepare something from whatever was available in the pantry. The chef did and the customer left with a grateful heart only to come back the next day and ask that the same dish be served to him. This went on for a couple of days and then, the owner decided to feature the dish on his regular menu. The  menu already had 64 items and this went on to become the 65^th item, thus prompting the name “Chicken 65”. 

Another story goes back to the pre-Independence era, when the British soldiers who frequented the military café in Chennai. They had a favorite dish whose longish name they couldn’t pronounce and there ordered it by saying “Chicken 65”. The 65 apparently rhyming with the last name of the dish. Sounds interesting right?

Food does becoming interesting when there is a story to back it up.  But this dish is not just about the story behind it. It is about its simplicity in every aspect making it a case in point for cynics who don't buy the argument that simple dishes can be tasty as well. Picture this, you marinate the chicken, cover it with batter and fry it, toss it in the sauce. Not too difficult, right? Yet, every bite will make you swoon, towards the end you will be full, but not satisfied and in all probability will have you asking for more. Pretty much like a Rajnikanth classic flick where you know you cannot go wrong.

I had initially not planned to make Chicken 65. I had boneless chicken in the fridge and in all probability would have gone in for a Chinese meal, but as the proverbial twist in the tale, the majority voted against Chinese and I decided to make Chicken 65. The only real effort was staying away from the crisp fried chicken and proceeding to the preparation of the gravy. I was pretty thrilled at the result simply for the fact that I got it right in the first go. My suggestion is don’t make it with a lot of gravy; it just enough to coat the chicken pieces  and yet give you that feeling of it lingering on your pallete.

Try it, the feeling of ecstasy and satisfaction you will derive be unparalleled. Mine was!! 

Chicken 65

Ingredients:

For marinating the Chicken 

• 550 grams chicken, cut into medium sized pieces (you could either use boneless or with bone)
• 2 teaspoons, red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon, turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon, crushed pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste

For the batter

• 6 tablespoons, rice flour
• 2 tablespoons, cornflour
• 1 egg, beaten well
• Salt- a pinch
• Oil, sufficient to fry the chicken pieces

For the gravy:

• 100 grams, Greek yoghurt, whisked well
• 2 teaspoons, garlic paste 
• 1 teaspoon, ginger paste
• 3-4 green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 Sprig, Curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon, cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon, red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon, turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon, garam masala powder
• 1 teaspoon, corriander powder
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons, oil
• Salt- to taste

Procedure:

• Wash the chicken, pat it dry and marinate it with the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, pepper and lemon juice. Do not add the salt at this time. Keep it aside for an hour.
• Sieve together the rice flour, and corn flour and the salt and keep aside. Beat the egg well.
• Now heat the oil on medium heat. 
• Line two bowls one with the rice flour and corn flour and the other with the egg.
• Add the salt to the chicken pieces and mix well. Take each piece of chicken and coat well with the egg and the flour mixture (in that order) and fry in the oil till each piece stands out separately and is golden brown in colour.
• Take out and drain on a absorbent paper. While we proceed to make the sauce.
• In a deep bottom pan, heat the oil (mentioned under the heading "for the gravy").
• Once it heats up, add the curry leaves and the cumin seeds and allow them to crackle.
• When the curry leaves release aroma, add the ginger, garlic paste, green chillies and saute well.
• Add the spice powders and mix well. Sprinkle a few drops of water so that the powders don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Now, add the yoghurt, salt and mix well to integrate the spice powders.
• Finally add in the fried chicken pieces and mix well so that the yoghurt gravy is fairly dry and the chicken pieces are coated well.
• Transfer to the serving plate, sprinkle lemon juice and serve hot.

Mince Cutlets

There are many blessings that life bestows on all of us. Making and choosing friends is one of them. 

The genesis of this post goes back about a decade and half, when I got admission to St. Andrew’s College, Bandra. On the first day of college, I was a nervous wreck. New institute, new places and the fact that I would be interacting with strangers gave me nightmares. But then, along the way, I met the three most diverse, mad and yet strangely, the most funniest people in my life. These are the friends I made in college and today, a decade and half later, careers and commitments have taken us to separate corners of the globe but thanks to innovations in social media, we are always an email, call or if need be a flight away from each other. Ironically, if you would put together the initials of our names it would be ‘BEER’; one of the E’s representing me of course.

So, why am I telling you about my friends and college days? Firstly, it was friendships day celebrated earlier this week and secondly the dish for today is one that we almost spent our entire college life on. Mince cutlets. For those you who know and have been to Bandra (where my college was), you would know that it’s one of the few areas in Mumbai that is heady concoction of the new and old worlds. One of the best things of Bandra is the large number of schools and an equally large number of small bakeries that (still, I guess) churn out all sorts of baked goodies both sweet and savory. The good thing was that the products were reasonably cheap and thankfully the portions large enough to satiate the growling stomachs of young college students. Now, each group in college had its own preferred bakery and so did ours. A few furlongs away from college was an Iranian bakery that the ‘BEER’ group would frequent; run by an uncle who resembled the biblical character Noah and just like Noah didn’t seem to age. We visited the place more out of compulsion and need to look good eating joints that wouldn’t deplete the pocket money our parents gave us. One of the things we loved having from this place was the mince cutlets. Half a dozen medium sized cutlets at about 10 odd rupees was a steal. As time passed uncle almost instinctively knew that along with other stuff an unsaid order was for the plateful of cutlets, at times he would even sneak an extra one much to our delight. We would pack the cutlets and rush off to the sea shore close by and sit there and munch on the cutlets while planning on how to take on the world after we graduate. Those were times when we didn’t have to depend on facebook for our friends birthday reminders and TV meant Doordarshan. I was chatting with a friend a few days ago and we both spent hours recollecting those awesome times, mischief done and of course, the cutlets

As you would have realised by now, this is a friendships day post. Needless to say, one post would not be enough to chronicle the warmth of friendship; I tried and put down as much as I can.  And to get as close as I could to relive those memories, I felt there was nothing better than the Mince Cutlets. I have keeping it as close to uncle’s recipe as I could, the taste was more or less there, as they say originals are originals and can’t be replicated.

Serve them with the main course or as an entrée, they fit anywhere into the menu. Better still, have them with ‘BEER’.

Cheers folks!!! And a happy friendship day to each of you. Love well, eat well!!! 

Mince Cutlets

Ingredients:

• 400 grams Chicken Mince
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons rice flour
• 1 large (or 2 small) potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 2 tablespoon red chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon garam masala powder
• 2 tablespoon chaat masala powder
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, for frying
• Oil for frying
• Breadcrumbs for coating
• salt to taste

Procedure:

• Wash the mince well and add the grated onion, chillies, potatoes, garlic and ginger pastes, red chilli, turmeric & garam masala powders. Mix well.
• Refrigerate for an hour. This is to ensure that  there is no moisture in the mince.
• After an hour, add the rice flour and the chaat masala powder, salt and give it a thorough mix.
• Lay out two plates separately with  bread crumbs and beaten eggs.
• Now wet your hands a little and take a little of the mixture and shape into quinelles, patties or into a shape of your choice.
• Dip each into the egg, and then roll well in the breadcrumbs.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry till golden brown. Once done, take out on an absorbent paper
• Serve hot with chutney or sauce.