Kadhai Chicken – Chicken out from the Kadhai to enhance the taste with another name “Tasty Chicken from the Kadhai”

Most non-vegetarians prefer chicken to mutton in India. The reason…so personal anyone can say. I feel chicken is easy to cook as it takes much less time than mutton. Chicken is easily available while mutton also raises the eyebrow of the buyer if it will be of a good quality or not. And chicken eating is found to be healthier than savouring mutton. Reasons will rise from one to another but chicken gets the majority vote if there is a mandate to be taken.

Chicken Makha- Makha

Puja days are saying, “Knock knock” standing at the doorstep of everyday life. What more, children say, “ki moja Pujo eshe gelo” (great fun the Pujas have come), and elders including me looking forward for the first day of the Pujo, Sosthi, that’s the beginning of the five days -- uff! -- can’t imagine the excitement building up for the coming days. One more day and then the daily routine of life will be different from the regular activities -- ektu (little) different from the regular schedule of life. O God, my language is becoming a mish-mash of Bangla and English words. It happens, it happens in India, nothing to worry.

I’m not thinking about pandal hopping that’s going to happen in my life after a couple of days, but, now I’m more concerned about my recipe that’s going to get a place here.

I’ve named this recipe Chicken Makha-makha because whenever I cook chicken I ask everyone at home what they like to eat. “What will you like, murgir jhol (chicken curry), chicken dopiyaza, kadhai chicken, chicken roast…”, before I can carry on – mind you I don’t have many more options to give them – am delighted to hear -- “keno chicken makha-makha kore daoo (why? Cook chicken makha-makha) ”. Thus this recipe has a name of its own in my home.