I cooked!!!!!!!!!! – chicken do pyaza

I cooked!!!!!!!!!!

hate cooking. Why?? Because i am a very lazy person; i hate the cutting and chopping and mixing

required before the actual cooking; i hate the cleaning up after the cooking; and i don’t have

patience to check every few minutes whether the food is being cooked properly. So, now you know

why it’s a big achievement for me to have cooked chicken do pyaaza. And before I tell you my

experiences of cooking this dish, let me tell you about a silly notion I had about the dish name. I

always thought the “do pyaaza” referred to 2 uncut onions added to the dish after it is cooked!!!

For the uninitiated, you will know very soon what “do pyaza” signifies – definitely 2 onions, but

not like I imagined!!!

I looked up the recipe on ndtv goodtimes site – the recipe by Marut Sikka and made a few

variations to it based on the availablity of ingredients at home.

Take a kg or 1.3 kg of chicken and wash it properly in lukewarm. You must remove all blood stains

from the chicken. (Why lukewarm water? – The water in the tank was quite hot by the time I

started cooking.)

Marinate the chicken with a tbs (tablespoon) each of garlic paste, ginger paste, red chilli powder,

and salt. Leave it for sometime.

Cut 2 onions – chop one onion very finely and cut the other onion into large pieces. (hence do

pyaza!!) Make puree out of 4 tomatoes.

Now, heat oil in your cooking pan (I used Saffola) and add 2 tbs of garlic paste and 1 tbs of

ginger paste to it. Cook till it looks brown. Add the finely chopped onion to it and cook till it’s

golden brown.

Add the tomato puree and salt to taste. While this is getting cooked, take half a cup of yoghurt,

add 1 tbs each of red chilli powder and turmeric powder to it and mix well.

Add this mixture to your onion and tomato puree in the cooking pan and cook for sometime.

Then, add 1 tbs each of coriander powder and cummin powder, the other onion (whihc you cut into

large pieces), the marinated chicken, some water, and garam masala. Now, let it cook for 30-40

minutes till the chicken is tender. See how my do-pyaaza looked.

Now, garnish it with 1/2 tbs of kasoori methi, 4 finely chopped green chillies, and some dhaniya

(coriander) leaves. Cover the pan with the lid and leave it for sometime so that the aroma of the

garnishings get mixed with the aroma of the rest of the ingredients. This is how the final dish

looked.

Believe me the aroma and the taste was Divine (as Marut Sikka says)!!!!

My friends always told me cooking is a great hobby. I never wanted to believe them. But, I must

admit I enjoyed cooking this dish. For all those who hate cooking, do try it out. It’ll take about 90

minutes for a beginner, and while you cook you are relieved of all your stress. And, the end result

makes you feel like a winner – on top of the world!!

Happy cooking!!!

Significance of the 10 exclamation marks in the blog title – People who know me know how much I hate cooking. Why?? Because i am a very lazy person; i hate the cutting and chopping and mixing required before the actual cooking; i hate the cleaning up after the cooking; and i don’t have patience to check every few minutes whether the food is being cooked properly. So, now you know why it’s a big achievement for me to have cooked chicken do pyaza.

Before I embark on telling you about my cooking adventure, let me tell you about a silly notion I had about this dish name. I always thought the “do pyaaza” referred to 2 uncut onions added to the dish after it is cooked!!!

For the uninitiated, you will know very soon what “do pyaza” signifies – definitely 2 onions, but not like I imagined!!!

I looked up the recipe on ndtv goodtimes site – the recipe by Marut Sikka, and made a few variations to it based on the availablity of ingredients at home. So, this is how I cooked it.

Take a kg or 1.3 kg (i cooked that much!!) of chicken and wash it properly in lukewarm water. You must remove all blood stains from the chicken. (Why lukewarm water? – The water in the tank was quite hot by the time I started cooking.)

Marinate the chicken with a tbs (tablespoon) each of garlic paste, ginger paste, red chilli powder, and salt. Leave it for sometime.

Cut 2 onions – chop one onion very finely and cut the other onion into large pieces. (hence do pyaza!!) Make puree out of 4 tomatoes.

Now, heat oil in your cooking pan (I used Saffola) and add 2 tbs of garlic paste and 1 tbs of ginger paste to it. Cook till it looks brown. Add the finely chopped onion to it and cook till it’s golden brown.

Add the tomato puree and salt to taste. While this is getting cooked, take half a cup of yoghurt, add 1 tbs each of red chilli powder and turmeric powder to it and mix well.  Add this mixture to your onion and tomato puree in the cooking pan and cook for sometime.

Then, add 1 tbs each of coriander powder and cummin powder, the other onion (whihc you cut into large pieces), the marinated chicken, some water, and garam masala. Now, let it cook for 30-40 minutes till the chicken is tender. See how my do-pyaaza looked.

Now, garnish it with 1/2 tbs of kasoori methi, 4 finely chopped green chillies, and some dhaniya (coriander) leaves. Cover the pan with the lid and leave it for sometime so that the aroma of the garnishings get mixed with the aroma of the rest of the ingredients. This is how the final dish looked.

 

Believe me the aroma and the taste is Divine (as Marut Sikka says)!!!!

My friends always told me cooking is a great hobby. I never wanted to believe them (I still don’t buy that!!) . But, I must admit I enjoyed cooking this dish. (Now, I neeed not worry about dinner for 2 days!! )

For all those who hate cooking, do try it out. It’ll take about 90 - 100 minutes for a beginner, and while you cook you are relieved of all your stress. And, the end result makes you feel like a winner – on top of the world!!

Happy cooking!!!