This dish is pure nostalgia. I've craved it throughout my travels, in countries that have never heard of it; I've been angry, sad, lonely over wanting-and-not getting it; over getting it but it wasn't the right one. Glad to say I've finally realised I no longer need to depend on restaurants to make this. I have made this and I've fallen in love with it all over again.
Kolkata-Style Chilli Chicken
Chicken Chowmein
Growing up in the gastronomical city of Kolkata, where the food options are simply mind-boggling at times, for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare connoisseurs, street-style food is what rules this city. As Bengalis, we love our chingri malai curry and kosha mangsho, channar dalna and alu posto, cooked to perfection at home. But we also love our rastar-stall'r (roadside stall) chilli chicken and chowmein. There's something exciting about watching food being cooked right in front of you; the same fascination that leads to the major craze behind Shwarma and Kathi Rolls. These stall are mostly permanent, sometimes semi-permanent, and their set-up is as basic as the hawker stalls in Singapore food courts. Everything is prepped, cooked, and served before your eyes and for many, its a visual treat. These stalls have a huge wok, running 24/7 on volcanic heat and cooking everything from a fried rice to a chilli chicken under 10 mins. They have their moshla-dani's (masala boxes) set at one side and its considered rude to ask them the brand of spices or sauces they use. Chances are if you know it you won't come back there,ever. However, the food remains phenomenally brilliant and the city along with its crowd thrives on this fatafat (cooked in a jiffy) style food. This is also where I first fell in love with Chilli Chicken.
Unlike Italian food, the flavor profile of Indo-Cantonese food mainly rides on its Umami-ness. Its a balance between salty-sweet-spicy and simply makes your tastebuds burst into a jingle, everytime you eat it. If you follow on Facebook Bengali food groups, there are countless of them, everyweek, if not everyday, someone tries to cook these gems in their humble-lavish homes. That's what great about street-food. It acts as a link between people on opposite sides of the world, and leads to innovation and invention which is the primary driving factor behind the popularity of street food. Everyone customizes it according to their individual taste but the base of the dish remains the same.
During my travels, I've never really had the opportunity to invest in good cookware because I was moving countries every other year, living in and out of studios, and was just too mind-fucked to concentrate on food. I cooked but I hated my cooking. My family, friends, colleagues, neighbors loved my cooking and relished everything I cooked for them, except me. I hated it because cooking became a tremendous chore that just frustrated me at times. I had a cook's block, believe me they exist. Its one of the most frustrating things ever. I seriously used to envy and get angry at people who had open kitchens or a proper closed kitchen and still would complain about cooking, whereas I lived in and out of shoe boxes and still managed to cook for everyone. Since then its been sometime, and this month I finally went ahead and invested in a wok and a fry pan. That wok is my life now. And ever since it came, all I wanted to do was make Chilli Chicken and Chicken Chowmein in it, reminising good old Kolkata food day. It turned out to be so good. I don't know what was the magic, whether it was the wok, or me being calm in the kitchen, or cooking a dish I actually loved, I really don't know. I just know I will be going to be bed today, happy. And that makes me look forward to better and exciting cooking days in the future.
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