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Murgir Stew (Chicken Stew Bengali Style)





Stews originated in the ancient times, somewhere between the 8th-4th Centuries BC, according to Herodotus. The Scythian were the first to make the dish in resemblance to the modern day Stew. When the Colonial masters came to India, the country known for it's heat and humidity succumbed them or rather their bellies. The masters ensured the help of their trusted cooks whom they had brought all the way from their native countries, and sought respite from stomach ailments over a humble bowl of stew.

With time, as it happens with most countries, there was a quiet trade over of stews and the Bengalis realized that the stew was in fact quiet a healthy dish, just devoid of the spices that the Bengali palate was used to. So the Bengalis, intelligent as they were, started rectifying the dish or rather started adding their knowledge of spices to it, varying the way it was normally cooked, and thus the Bengali Chicken Stew was born. To make it clear, Bengalis till date hold the record for  introducing a Vegetable Stew that no one can claim as theirs. It's the famous Shukto. Now if you have a Bong friend, then it's impossible that you have never heard of it as the most discerning Bong swears by it. Shukto, for a Bengali is not a dish, it's an emotion. From curing an ailing stomach to providing relief from violent temperatures the state is subjected to during summers, Shukto is the go-to dish for the Bengali. You can travel the length and breath of India but never find Shukto except in West Bengal. And it's best had at a friend's house because restaurants fail to achieve the perfection that your friend's mother can.

But then, one can't live life just on Shukto. Hence the Bengalis took the Stew or rather Isstew as it was previously called, and made it into a dish of their own. To be honest, though I do enjoy a colonial stew, nothing beats the Bengali Stew. It's something that one has to experience and cannot be explained in words. Now many of you have this misconception that Bengali food is all about spice but I disagree. Any Bengali foodie will tell you that our cuisine is not about the spice or how hot a dish can be; sure we do enjoy our green chillies and Lonka Guro but to us it's not about dumping these ingredients into the dish but rather working towards a marriage of flavor and spices.

As a kid growing up in a traditional Bengali household, I didn't have the best of digestion. It was my mark of shame and I bore the cross for many years. Everyone, from friends to relatives, called me Pet Roga(a kid with a weak digestion) and no matter how many birthday parties or marriages I was invited to, I often returned home just scanning the menu card and sitting there wondering how good the food might have tasted. During birthday parties, I visited my friends' home, dropped off the gift, wished them and returned home as I couldn't even digest the birthday cake. And if I dared my stomach into sneaking a bite or two of the cake or birthday food, the night was spent either in the washroom or in front of the basin. Yeah! talk about a tough childhood.

My parents took me to the best doctors and I tried Allopathy, Homeopathy and Ayurveda; alas all of them failed before my stubborn stomach. One doctor even suggested my parents to keep any eye on me after I had taken my food as he suspected the vomiting might be self-induced.Till one summer, while visiting my Mamabari (maternal grandparent's home) my Dadubhai(Grandfather) who happened to be a renowned Homeopathy doctor saw me and said "I looked like an impoverished, undernourished kid" I was 7 years old then and every time I took a breath, you could count my ribs, I was in that bad of a shape.He told my mother in rather stern words that rather than taking me to doctors and wasting money, all she needs to do is feed me stew 4 times a day.

So my mother returned back and started her stew-saga. To be honest, in the initial couple of weeks for rather for a month or two, it made no effect and every time I had a piece of chicken I would throw-up within five minutes of eating it. But then slowly changes started to happen. I started keeping down a bowl of stew which went to two bowls to at last when all I ate for four times a day was stew. It was boring but at least it was food. My health improved and two summers later when I visited my grandparents for Summer Vacation, I was hardly recognizable. I had put in a decent weight, my ribs went back to where they should have been, and I looked like a healthy 9 year old girl. Dadubhai is no longer with us (and I miss him  a lot), he was a gentle old man with the warmest smile ever, but he sure as shit cured me for life!

The Stew is a fine example of that. Bengalis prefer a light stew in the summer, adding vegetables like green papaya slices that prevents the usual stomach upset in summers, carrots that everyone knows the benefits of, potatoes to make it filling and sometimes a couple of cauliflower florets or a handful of peas. There is hardly any spice used other than the usual holy trinity of Bengali spices- Holud- Nun- Lonka Guro (Turmeric,Salt and Red Chilli Powder) in minuscule amount and the Gota Gorom Moshla for tempering (i.e., 1 bay leaf,2 cloves,2 cardamom pods and the thinnest cinnamon bark you can find). Chopped tomatoes and green chillies are added and everything is cooked in a pressure cooker for 2 whistle. That's it. It hardly takes any work because there is no fine chopping or dicing. All vegetables are sliced in half or kept in big chunks.

The end result is this bowl of soul food that basically is the best thing ever. You can have it with steamed rice or any Indian bread or just itself. The Bengali Chicken Stew is life changing so experience it whenever you can.





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