Cilantro-Cumin Chicken-- creates life long memories

It sure feels great to hit Monday. For one thing there is activity back on the food community. And it is terrific to read about all the culinary adventures of the weekend. Thanks for the weekend! Wait..wasn't I just saying that Monday was great..? :)

Mine was a regular one. By that of course I mean lots of adventures in kitchen land. And outside too. One of them being pumpkin carving. Here is what I have been up to

Not very scary..is he?

Back to my kitchen-land. I was making a lovely lentil. That involves boiling the lentils for some time. If you have ever worked with lentils, you will notice that it gives off a lovely waft of aroma after boiling for sometime. It so happened that right around that time I was mincing up some garlic. And both these flavors found their way into my senses..kind of like two white ghosts wafting into my brain...and created this wonder recipe. I could actually smell, taste and visualize this dish. I tell you it was quite an eerie experience..and given this time of the year, I guess it is to be expected :). Huh?

However, today I am not going to write about that. For one thing, I have yet to make it! It is still my fantasy right now. And this blog is not about fantasies. It is about hard work which shows and not :) That brings me to today's recipe. Which is neither my brainchild, nor did I cook  or arrange for the ingredients. But it is my favorite chicken recipe. And only one person knows how to make it  best. R. So yesterday, he was in charge of the kitchen. And yes, we have this fantastic recipe.

One word though. It might look similar to one recipe which I have posted earlier, when I was a newbie in this wonderful community. However, these two taste very different. Today's one is lovely in its spice combination and has got a cooked feel to it, although it takes almost no babysitting. A couple of layers of flavor going about it. The other one has a strong garlic- sour cream flavor, got a baked feel to it and definitely is less of an hassle to make. Similar looking. But very different tasting. And just one addition..no make it two, makes such a big difference. A spice and a cooking technique You will see. Just thought it was best to let you guys know beforehand.

Oh! before I plunge into the recipe..a little tit bit. I loved this recipe ever since I had it. And that ever since is not that long back. About three years back. R was visiting me in cambridge. I have mentioned this before that I used to live in a dorm. And I was not a cook those days. Just about did a few good dishes. So R came to visit and made this dish for me. It was a typical rainy cambridge evening. And I remember we both were sitting in the huge dorm kitchen-- by a stroke of luck it was without anybody else--alking about this and that while the chicken marinaded....the faint garlic-Cilantro smell wafting about casually...

This dish...always bring back the memory of the warm savory evening...while the world outside was wet and sad.

So here is to lovely, cosy and spicy memories!

Ingredients

1 lb  of chicken. Skin or with skin. Your choice. Boneless or with bone. Your choice. I would go with skinless, with bones.

2 small bunches of Cilantro. You can substitute partly or wholly with Parsley. I would definitely stick with  Cilantro. Since I love it sooo much. Remember to wash the cilantro/ Parsley. Apparently they can bear deadly germs and give you a bad case of food poisoning.

7-8 cloves of garlic- grated. You can vary as per your taste. But in this case, the more the merrier :)

2 green chili- chopped up. You can also use Jalapeno

2 tsp of whole cumin.

1 tsp of oil-- what a catch!!

1.5 cup of good quality yoghurt.

Salt to season

All you do is really...just marinade and cook

Make a coarse paste using the Cilantro/ Parsley, garlic, yoghurt. Marinade the chicken with this paste for  an hour. This is the only thing that is to be done. So we might as well be patient about it.

Heat the oil (1 tsp!) in a skillet. When hot, add the chili/ Jalapeno. Fry for ~ 30 secs. Add the whole cumin. Wait for 10 secs or till you smell aroma. Wow! And then add the marinaded chicken. Mix everything together.  Saute for a minute, lower and then simply cover and wait for 15-20 minutes. Give it a stir once in the mean time. After 20 minutes, uncover, and see if the water has dried up. There is water in the yoghurt :). If the chicken has reached desired consistency, season with salt, turn off heat

Serve with anything-- rice, bread, salad! Its all good. really light and flavorful. My favorite chicken dish.

Happy eating and healthy living!