The Butter Chicken Saga

When I was a kid,my favorite ad on T.V. was "utterly,butterly,delicious Ammulllllll" and the cute girl with the red polka dot dress. Call it divine intervention or lady luck, though I was too young to understand what the word 'foodie' meant, I was sure growing up to be one.( Rectifying the statement) A MAJOR one.

Growing up in Kolkata,a major part of my school friends,college friends were Punjabi. Again,call it divine intervention or lady luck, I really struck a cord with the happy-go-lucky fanatics of 'makai ki roti,sarso da saag' so much so that at one point of time,my dear and loving mother used to think she might again need to teach me Bengali or how to eat 'Ilish mach'. I always scored great in hindi,thanks to my non-stop hindi/punjabi speaking friends and developed my hindi so much that till today people mistake me to be a punjabi when I speak in Hindi.
' O teri!'

Now the question arises as to why till today I bond with Punjabis great.Well it's simple.Bengalis and Punjabis are pots of the same clay.Both communities lovec their rich culture and heritage,food,festivals and are really chilled people.No wonder most Bengali boys/girls end up marrying Punjabi boys/girls and vice versa.The Bengalis have their " Ghee" and the Punjabis have their "butter".And the first Punjabi dish I fell in love with was Butter Chicken.

I still remember the day I had it for the first time.I was a student in Standard IX and my good friend(school crush) Rahul Singh's mother had given him Roti and Butter Chicken in tiffin.Now as it happens with most people,Rahul had been eating Butter Chicken for so long that he was happy to swap tiffin with me.So while he devoured a box of luchi- alur dom,the quintessential Bengali tiffin,I was more than happy to demolish a dabba of Butter Chicken and Roti.Those soft succulent pieces of chicken marinated in hung curd and spices,fried in butter or grilled,doused in a gravy of creamy goodness was just YUMMY.And hence began my love affair with Butter Chicken.

Now like all Bengalis,I am a true and committed lover - in real as well as gastronomical life.So no matter where I went and with whom,I always tried to have Butter Chicken.My obsession grew so much that at one point my parents didn't offer to take me to dinner parties lest I should again drag them to a Punjabi hotel for authentic butter chicken.My friends also avoided me because they grew tired of Punjabi food and Butter Chicken.But not me.No sir.I remained committed to it.So much so that at one time I decided if I had to marry then I would marry a Punjabi because then I wouldn't have to betray my beloved Butter Chicken.

But like all things in life," Man proposes and God disposes". I married into an inter-community family with Bengali/Bihari roots.But it wasn't that bad because my hubby is big time foodie,or rather as he calls it,' A Global Foodie'.He loves eating and Butter Chicken does happen to be on his list.

After marriage,when I came to Singapore, the variety of Indian food was marginalized to some restaurants in Little India.The ones that did serve my favorite  were either too eavily priced or lacked in taste.My hubby,understanding my loyalty  towards my first love,took me all over Singapore for the perfect plate and I came back disappointed and sad.None seemed to cut it.

I was almost about to give up hope when it seemed like Ma Annapurna smiled down upon me.While I was back home,in India,watching TLC one evening,I saw this amazing recipe for a Mutton Stew. (No,no I have not lost track,believe me) The way the lady in the show caramelized the onions gave me an idea.So I thought why not try to make Butter Chicken this way.Not the old school way which takes a lot of time but rather slow cooking the essential and fast cooking the consequential.( I assure you guys I'm not an ex-tempo expert )

So this time when I came back to Singapore,I raided the grocery store,picked up the ingredients and told to myself," If you want the best,you have to cook the best." And with that slogan,today evening I marched up to the kitchen with a box full of ingredients,my hubby helping me out by sharing the load,and remembering Aamir Khan's

"Bar bar ha,
Bolo yaar ha,
Apni jeet ho,
Unki haar ha.
Koi humse jeet na pawe,chale chalo....."

And after 45 mins came the reward.An incredibly scrumptious pot of creamy,buttery gravy with soft,melt in the mouth chicken pieces that satisfied me and hubby dear.I was so elated that I was about to cry but I also had to eat.Hence I postponed the crying.

But while having dinner,I thanked Rahul's mom for introducing me to my first crush.Without her 6I would have missed out on the significance of Butter Chicken in a foodie's life,Ma Annapurna for blessing me with a good hand for cooking and my mother for teaching me how to cook and to never give up.

I owe this bowl of Butter Chicken to these three amazing ladies.