Summary

A young boy's quest to rediscover a unique chicken dish from his childhood, known as chicken karahi, is fulfilled 20 years later when he tastes it again at his aunt's house.

Abstract

The narrative unfolds with a boy reminiscing about a distinctive chicken dish he once had as a child, characterized by its tangy and spicy sauce. Despite his attempts to have it again, his mother, who served it to him without knowing the recipe, could not recreate it. Two decades later, at a family dinner, he encounters the dish once more, triggering a flood of childhood memories. This experience leads him to learn the recipe from his aunt, who was the original creator of the dish. The chicken karahi, named after the pan it is traditionally cooked in, has become a beloved dish at his dinner parties, with its popularity attributed to the unique combination of tart tomatoes, tangy yogurt, and aromatic spices.

Opinions

The author, Khusro Jaleel, values home-cooked meals made with love and attention over dining out.
He believes in the power of food to evoke strong memories and emotions, as evidenced by his vivid recollection of the chicken karahi from his childhood.
Jaleel appreciates the complexity of flavors in Asian subcontinent cuisine, particularly the layering of flavors in simple dishes like chicken karahi.
He is passionate about cooking and enjoys hosting dinner parties, often sharing his favorite recipes with others, including his son.

I Couldn’t Find This Dish Until One Day….

Twenty years later, it made an appearance

Chicken Karahi with some of the ingredients — photo by Khusro Jaleel

It was a really hot day. Beads of sweat were forming on my forehead as I walked home from the school bus. I dumped my bag in my room and wondered what my mom might have prepared for lunch. She always gave me a little something to keep me going until dinner time. She was a great cook, a true legend in our family who always made time to cook meals from scratch. Amongst the endless varieties of ways in which she showed us love, cooking and feeding people was one of her most practiced.

I sat down on the dinner table and played with my Viewmaster. A Viewmaster was a toy that resembled a pair of binoculars, and worked by inserting a photographic spinning “reel” into a slot which kids could scroll through. Looking through a “Heckle and Jeckle” cartoon reel, I was bemused by the pair’s antics as usual.

My mom popped out of our small kitchen and served me an unassuming dish of chicken with rice. Except wait — what was this?! This chicken had a bit more “red stuff” in it than usual. To be honest, I didn’t pay that much attention to it beyond this small observation. I was distracted by my toys.

This changed quickly after the first few bites, however. That sauce — I remember that sauce so vividly. It was very tangy and spicy at the same time; it wasn’t something I’d ever come across before and was a completely new flavor for me. Granted, I was probably only seven years old and there were lots of foods I had yet to try.

Decades later, that day is still etched firmly in my mind. It’s funny how I remember little details like Heckle and Jeckle, the Viewmaster, the tomatoes, and that tiny box of an apartment where I made so many memories as a child.

The real story of my search begins a few weeks later when I asked my mom to make that same dish for me again. My hopes were dashed however when my mom served a simple chicken curry instead. Admittedly, her chicken curry was excellent but I was left confused and unsatisfied.

!نہیں امی یے تھوڑی ہے وہ! وہ بنائیں جو پھلے بنائ تھی

“No, mom! This isn’t the dish I meant, I wanted you to make the one you made for me a couple weeks ago!”, I said to her. My mom was never a forgetful person but in this case she couldn’t remember what dish I could possibly be referring to.

Sadly, I never got to taste that dish again. Until 20 years later.

One day, my aunt invited us over for dinner. As usual, there was a spread of dishes on the table and I eagerly tucked into all of them. One of them, however, made me stop dead in my tracks. I didn’t recognize it at first but as soon as I tasted it I had that ratatouille moment: I was a boy again on that hot summer’s day. Food really has the power to do that.

! یہ ہےوہ ڈش جس کی میں بات کر رھا تھا اتنے ارسے سے

I had to refrain from almost screaming at my mom — “This is it! This is the dish I’ve been telling you about for so long!” Sitting across from me at the table, my aunt smiled at me lovingly and said she’ll gladly show me how to make it.

Let me cut a long story short and explain why I couldn’t find that dish for so long. The fact is, when I was young, my aunt used to live across the street from us. She cooked it and gave some to my mom, and I believe my mother never had a chance to taste it! She just heated it up and served it to me. That’s why she never understood what I was talking about and couldn’t recreate it.

These days I make it often and at dinner parties or events it’s often the first to finish. People just love it. I haven’t missed the opportunity to pass it on to my son who also considers it one of his firm favorites.

But what’s so special about it? The name of the dish is chicken karahi, named after the wok style flat-bottomed pan (karahi) that it’s usually made in. You’ll find it in most Indian restaurants, but none of them (so far) make it the way my aunt does.

I’ve broken down the recipe for you in the picture but couldn’t get all the ingredients in. In essence, it needs a lot of tomatoes for that tart sweetness as well as old, slightly off yoghurt which helps give it a sharp “tangy” flavor. Garlic, cumin and chillies feature in the recipe as well as lots of julienned ginger which helps to give it that extra warmth and kick.

As with many recipes from the Asian subcontinent, it’s a simple dish — but there’s always a lot going on when you taste it. We love layering our flavors.

Khusro Jaleel is a technology professional based in the UK who loves cooking and somehow accidentally ends up hosting too many dinner parties! He doesn’t consider himself a foodie because he almost never eats out. He is a huge advocate of home cooked meals, made with love, presence and attention.