Tandoori Chicken - without a Tandoor

I don’t make Tandoori Chicken at home. When you can order the same off the restaurant across the road, it somehow seems pointless. Especially because the restaurant boasts of a tandoor (clay oven) and I don’t. And I would be a fraud to make this at home and call it ‘tandoori’ chicken when in fact – there was no tandoor to make it in!

So after struggling with this notion and willfully desisting from even venturing in that direction – the co-resident broke all the rules. He was having a barbeque party and could I please marinate some chicken for it? Sure I said, ‘What marinade do you want?’ Tandoori marinade, he cooed.  *Gasp, splutter, shaking the head in disbelief and denial*. Why don’t you just buy it off *insert name of restaurant here*, I asked. Because for a barbeque party you need to barbeque, not buy stuff and besides it’s not like you will be grilling it, just marinating it, he insisted. Sigh… that logic was sound and I’m a true believer in good logic, but it was just working against me here!

So he went and bought the chicken and the rest of the ingredients and even proceeded to wash and clean the meat. He extracted the lemon juice and set aside all the masalas for the marinade. With no excuses left, I had to succumb. I felt strangely guilty – like I was going against my ‘Do not Do’ list! In the end, I did marinate it and the co-resident turned out a beautiful tandoori chicken sans tandoor. Maybe my guilt will be assuaged if I just call it chicken barbequed in Indian spices. But that sounds long and boring. So we’ll leave it as Tandoori Chicken and I’ll add a disclaimer.

Baingan Bharta (Indian Spiced Aubergine/ Eggplant Mash)

Baingan Bharta is something that I was introduced to seven years ago. (Basically, ever since I started working and it was de rigueur to have lunch in the office cafeteria!). The cafeteria food sucked. And day after day it was pure torture to let the undercooked, over spiced, all-round-sad food enter our mouths. I could have opted to take a lunchbox from home, but it was just too much work in the morning. (Besides, in those days I thought I was too cool for a lunch box!). So it was almost a godsend when a little Dhaba (highway or roadside restaurant; very popular in the North of India) opened up next to office. This was run by a Punjabi family who served home style meals at a modest price. (Which suited our pockets just fine!). They had a fixed menu written on a black board everyday and fixed quantities that would run out if you reached later than 1:30 pm. So we religiously moved our lunch break to 12:30pm and ensured we got the pick of the loot. He made Baingan Bharta every Tuesday and every North Indian worth their salt would be queued up to order it. I thought it looked pedestrian really – bowl of red-yellow mash of aubergines. Give me my Matar Paneer anyday! Then it happened eventually…one day I was forced to order the Baigan Bharta because the Paneer ran out. And the rest as they say is history!

I love the smokey flavor of the aubergine and the tang of the tomato. Someone really worked on getting the ingredient combo right! Every region or house in India has their own secret recipe for Banigan Bharta so I can’t really claim that this is the best or the most authentic. But my dear cook Kumudh has churned this out atleast once every week for the past three years – so rest assured that it’s good. (I had to beg her for the recipe and only after telling her that it’s going to go on the ‘Computer’ did she allow it). So all credit to Kumudh for this one – she monitored me like a hawk when I made it!