Cheese Chicken- Notes of a Homemaker

Dedicated to the generations of women, who went through the process of home-making happily, and considered it worthy and satisfying enough to be a full-time job. To the innumerable people who ask me,”What do you do the entire day?” – I am genuinely puzzled; I am sure about one thing though – I don’t have a minute to spare.

A long time ago, an Italian restaurant opened in Bangalore and the family loved the chicken pot pie and pizzas they served. So armed with a recipe of Cheese Chicken, I started experimenting in domains alien to me.The taste is primarily continental, but it is entwined with the east. Since then it has earned a permanent place in my favorite food diary. I am sure you too will like it.

CHEESE CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:

1. Chicken – 1 kg
2. Ginger – 1″ piece
3. Garlic – 6 pods
4. Coriander leaves – 3 or 4 sprigs, wash, cut fine
5. Green Chillies – 2 nos, cut small
6. Peppercorns – 1 tsp freshly powdered
7. Cheese – 3 cubes – grated
8. Milk – 1 cup
9. Cornflour or Maida (Flour) – 1 tbsp
10. Butter – 1 tbsp
11. Oil – for frying
12. Cream – 3 tbsp

Preparation time – 50 min.         Cook Time – 30 min.        Serves – 5

• Remove bones from chicken and cut into 1″ pieces.
• Grind ginger and garlic together. Apply a mixture of lime, ginger-garlic paste, pepper & salt on the chicken and allow it to rest for 1/2 an hour.
• Heat oil, brown chicken in batches and keep it aside.
• In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over low heat, blend flour into the butter. Cook over low heat – stirring for 1 minute without browning. Pour milk  and 1 cup of water slowly into the pan, constantly stirring it into a smooth and thick sauce.
• Add the chicken pieces, green chillies, half of the cheese gratings and cut coriander leaves into it. Stir continuously. Cook for 10 minutes, in medium heat.
• Lastly, add cream and the rest of the cheese gratings (reserving some for the garnish) in low heat. Stirring continuously, allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Garnish with cheese.  Serve hot with rice or bread loaves.

Quick Tip: When batter for dosa or appam is too thin or watery, thicken with rice powder.

Quick Tea: Now that summer is on us, don’t we all sometimes wish for a cool drink as the heat saps our energy. This is exactly what we got when on a visit  to our daughter-in-law’s parent’s place. What we liked especially  is the  simplicity of preparation. We greatly relished our iced Nestea.