Dahi Chicken - at the cost of a burnt hand

After much cajoling and many a threats, dad finally agreed to come home for dinner last night. He's been bitten by a strange how-can-I-go-eat-so-often-in-my-daughter's-home type of bug. Which ofcourse is completely out of the blue and very uncharacteristic of him!!

Nevertheless, now that he did agree, it so happened that he and The Husband both had sore throats. And Indian food is a cuisine where the lack of spices is almost equal to lack of taste. So I took up the challenge (yet again), and decided to take matters into my own hands. The cook was asked to make the staples of daal (pulses), salad, rice etc. And yours truly decided to make Dahi Chicken.

In the process, I did manage to burn my hand (quite badly in my opinion) when the hot oil came splashing out of the wok....take my word for it - bay leaves may look very innocent but put them in hot oil and they can be as notorious as mustard seeds!

Nevertheless, the dish did come out quite well, if I do say so myself....considering that I made up the recipe myself.

Dahi Chicken
Serves 3

Ingredients:
Chicken (washed and cut into pieces) - 1/2 chicken (around 400 gms)
Onion (thinly sliced) - 1 (large)
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Oil - 1tbsp
Salt - To taste
Coriander Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Pwd - 1/2 tsp

For the marinade:
Curd - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Pwd - 1/3 tsp
Coriander Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Method:
1)Mix all ingredients of the marinade and coat the chicken pieces with the same. Keep aside in the fridge
2)Heat a wok with the oil. Put in the bay leaf and after around 20 seconds, add the onion. Fry till limp.
3)Add ginger-garlic paste and cook till light brown
4)Add the pieces of chicken. Do not add the curd marinade (put that on the side for the time being). Add salt and the spices. Cook on low heat for 10-15 mins till chicken looks cooked and its water starts drying up.
5)Add curd marinade and 1/4 cup water. Mix, cover and cook on very low heat for 15 minutes. Do not worry if the curd looks like its curdling. Its supposed to look this way.
6)Serve hot with rice or chapati.