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Nov 18, 2007

Bhaiyyaji's Dehati Chicken

A tribute to the spirit of Bhaiyyaji @ the Deloitte Top Chef competition

The Basics
  • The secret ingredient of this dish – Mustard Oil
  • The secret to success of this dish – A walk into the Indian Store
  • The basic truth about this dish – There is nothing called a Dehati Chicken

A bit of a background because food is also about the experience

70% of India lives in the villages. In the northern part of India “Dehat” figuratively means “village”. The language is Hindi which is also the national language. But it is not the mother tongue of over 80% of the country. But we wanted a language to connect. So Hindi it had to be because it does not necessarily belong to a particular state and no one would be unhappy. The idea is not a total success but with a mix of Hindi and English you can survive in India, almost.

When an Indian wage worker comes to the cities for work he usually leaves his near and dear ones back in the country side. He works hard and once a year goes back to his “Dehat”. That’s when his wife would cook chicken for him.

Dehati Chicken is coined in honor of those million Indian who are away from their family toiling everyday, saving up to be permanently back to their home someday – a day which rarely comes.

I suggest you watch the classic Indian movie called Do Bigha Zameen (My small piece of land) which got rave reviews in Cannes Film festival in the 60s. It is about a rickshaw pullers struggling life in the bustling metropolis of Calcutta.

I first ate Dehati chicken in a small shack in Bangalore opened by one of my friend’s brother. He was from the Indian state of Bihar which is the most backward. It is the state which is home to Bodh Gaya where Gautam Buddha attained his salvation. It is the pilgrimage place to millions of Buddhists across the world.


I didn’t ask for the recipe. So my Dehati Chicken doesn’t taste like his. But the basic philosophy is the same. Cook fresh. Coarse grind spice (“masala” in Hindi) and spice it up with love and care. I added the mustard oil bit because I think mustard oil adds the pungency to food and makes it rustic and earthy.


Incidentally, mustard oil is the cooking medium for the entire eastern part of the country. I am a Bengali hailing from the Indian state of West Bengal. Our staple diet is fresh river fish and river fish has distinct taste when cooked with mustard oil. Sometime back, there was trepidation that mustard oil is not good for the heart. But research has proven that it mingles so well with fish that it actually ends up being good for the heart.

So on to the recipe. Before that only one rejoinder – I cook by the day. My dishes never taste the same. And I never measure my stuff. My nose and my mood dictate how much spices and how many spices I put. This is my first attempt to a written recipe.

Statutory warning: This dish is not meant for the weak hearted and health conscious

Ingredients that I used that day (and for this visit an Indian Store):

  • Mustard Oil
  • Garlic Ginger Paste
  • Red Chilli Powder (preferably coarse ground)
  • Cinnamon (coarse ground)
  • Cardamom (coarse ground)
  • Bay Leave (whole)
  • Onion (not the sweet ones – I used 3 onions nicely chopped)
  • Garam Masala (meaning “Hot Spice” – the secret ingredient of north Indian cooking available in any India store and is a mixture 6-7 different spices)
  • A few thin slices of Ginger
  • Chicken Curry Powder (I used Shan, you can use any one available in India store)
  • Clarified Butter (Called “Ghee” in India)
  • Tomatoes (one small one)
  • Plain Yoghurt

Apart from this you will need:
Chicken (usually in an India village they will cook country chicken and with the bones). I bought it from Safeway and I bought 5 lbs.

The Process that I followed that day:
Marinate the Chicken overnight. I think this is overkill. Two hours is just enough

What to marinate with?

  • Yoghurt (just enough to coat the chicken)
  • Ginger Garlic Paste (just enough maybe around 2 teaspoons)
  • Salt
  • Shan Chicken Curry Masala (2 teaspoons)
  • Mustard Oil (about 3-4 table spoons)

Add mustard oil in the pan. Heat and then add the Bay Leaf, Cinnamon, Cardamom and sliced ginger. Stir it but be careful never to overheat it at this state or else the spice gets burnt, gets killed and stops playing a part.

Next add the onion and stir it till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste (2 teaspoons again) and 1 teaspoon of garam masala and 1 tea spoon of Shan chicken curry masala.Let it cook a bit till the oil starts bubbling out. That’s the time you know the spices are well cooked and its time for the chicken to dance into the pan.

Add chicken and stir it continuously for whatever time it takes. For me it took about 25-30 minutes. And again the oil will start bubbling out and you know it is well cooked.

Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir it up again till the tomatoes glisten. Add a teaspoon of the clarified butter. Stir it again for about a min or two and then finally add another bout (a pinch may be) of garam masala and you are ready to have a touch of the India village right into the heart of your house.

Just incase if you have read till now I am having a creeping ambition growing inside me. To open a restaurant alongside an Old Age Home – each feeding of the other.

11 comments:

Cracked said...

I'm going to try this! I'll let you know how it turns out! :D

kaushik said...

Yes. Please do. And call me in the day you prepare it. And you blog is worth exploring..

Shuv said...

dont forget to add this line to all your recipes..

'Next day before going to the toilet in the morning, please dont forget to carry a tube of some soothing ointment'.

Scout said...

wow. i am drooling :)

btw, mustard oil is a staple in north india too.. and kashmiris almost exclusively cook in that...

kaushik said...

Scout: I didnt know about this at all. And it is a surprise to know kashmiris cook in mustard.

Now can we have those secret recipes from Kashmir. Remember your promise of helping me prepare biryani never quite materialed.

Vikas said...

looks like a lot of hard work for a dish, kaushik whenever we meet please cook this for me and i will treat you with my best preparation(sandwich).

Anonymous said...

I got a trifle scared by the last line in the post - old age home and restaurant 'feeding' off each other - you are planning to serve CHICKEN at the restaurant, right?

Anonymous said...

I had earlier cooked mutton with mustard oil but this time was the first I tried chicken with mustard oil. It was terrific, but I used Everest instead of Shaan.

Anonymous said...

bless you, awesome web page
what is the way to write blog posts and smash in people:
http://tinyurl.com/ylpn9g8

Sumit said...

You, sir, are good at making up stories. Most of them are just that - stories, far from facts, preposterous and removed from reality. Enjoyable never the less- I laughed out loud.

And the recipe was good. So no complaints really!

The long and short of it.. said...

Its appalling to see your rather cocky tone extend into sheer derogation for millions of people and their ages old rich cultural history to be summarized simply into - "He was from the Indian state of Bihar which is the most backward". What is "backward" per se?? As it seems that you based your comment simply on financial/economic growth of the state.. conveniently ignoring circumstances and other factors that set my state back.. may be recent years of being the fastest growing Indian state tag might lead you to realize that only thing backward here is your mindset. Bihar and Biharis are not "backward" by any measure!

Siddharth
siddharth_datta@rediffmail.com