BELATED ANNIVERSARY SPREAD

Throughout the year, we have numerous anniversaries starting with proposal, akht, wedding, reception, firani, our first travel together and so many more. Wanting to cherish every first step is nothing new to couples. But the most special one for us was when we first realized our emotions for each other, so we celebrate this one particularly for us. On the day of the anniversary although he had a busy day, my hubby wanted me to relax and enjoy the day with him, and not spend it in the kitchen wizarding around. So he ordered in steak from Outback Steakhouse, and who doesn't love steaks for special occasion? Next day, I got my chance and he couldn't stop me from going berserk in the kitchen. Mughlai chicken has been popping up on my social media for a while now. Banglar Rannaghar had a pretty simple recipe which I had to give a try, also I was craving chicken but that wasn't main motive of course (insert evil giggles here).

First off, I had to marinate the chicken with some salt, turmeric powder, yogurt, chopped garlic, ginger paste and lime juice. I didn't have lime at that moment so I skipped it. I left it for around 30 minutes. Next in a pan, I fried some onions and kept it aside for later use. Be careful to not burn the onions, it's a thin line and I burnt mine a little and it doesn't taste good. We call it বেরেস্তা (beresta) in Bengali, a pretty common topping for Bangladeshi dish. Using that oil in the pan, which had the aroma of the beautiful caramelized onion, I added some cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves. I think they used something called shah jeera since it was missing from my pantry, I replaced it with (cumin seeds). Next, I added in the marinated chicken and sautéed it for about 10 minutes. After the chicken gets a little browning on the outside, I went in with red chili powder and cumin powder. They did mention to fry it for another 5 minutes but since I used lesser oil, I had to add in the nut paste (they used cashew and almonds, but I used peanut paste), fried onions, salt followed by hot water fairly quickly to prevent burning. I let it cook for another 15 minutes and throughout the cooking time, I left my heat on medium heat. As a final touch, I added the rest of the fried onions and some green chili. I usually don't have sour cream in my fridge, so I had to skip that too, but I can pretty much guess how it enhanced the taste. Next time I will make sure to keep these in my pantry. Overall, I really enjoyed the new flavors of the chicken curry, although I am more of korma person. But my hubby totally loved it especially because I sided it with jeera pulao and some বোরহানি (borhani). Jeera pulao is basically my replacement for pulao. It is pretty quick and easy to make. To prepare this, I fried some cumin seeds and garlic, added water and rice with 2:1 ratio, seasoned it with salt, and let the water evaporate completely. And voila! Jeera pulao ready to serve in just 10 minutes. The বোরহানি (borhani) was homemade too but I still can't get my ratio right. So I talk about that after a few more trials.

Thank you for reading and check out the YouTube link for further reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DmM0obyA5Y