Pankaj Bhadouria: Here's What I Cook In A Day
Image Credit: 'Dinnertime has always had a special place in my heart.'

THAT I love cooking need not be said! But what I love even more, is cooking for my family. 

Breakfast is an important meal for all of us. And my, the demands for breakfast are as varied as my family members themselves! While my daughter loves custard cream French toast, my son is up for sandwiches and my husband is quite partial towards waffles. Mom won’t have any of these and prefers a dosa or a chila. In terms of drinks, the kids like cold coffee, my hubby prefers a hot cappuccino, mom is a tea person and personally, I need a glass of fresh juice every morning. So breakfast is quite a busy time at home!

Lunch is usually in the office and that is where I can place demands and get served what I like.

The most important meal of the day for us, however, is dinner. All of us sit together at the table and not only enjoy the food but also share the entire day’s gossip, news and activities with each other. So the dinner table helps us bond even better.

Dinner has dal, rice, green vegetables, either an egg or chicken dish, salads and yoghurt for sure. I love cooking different varieties of chicken for my family. 

Dinnertime has always had a special place in my heart. I remember, when I was a kid, my family too would spend the maximum time at the dinner table. While my brother and I would share all the tales from school, dad would have some funny stories to regale us with and mom had something new on the table to enthral us with! Not just 15-20 minutes, we would spend at least an hour at the dinner table… Of course, we neither had mobile phones to distract us nor unending channels on TV. So the conversations were real conversations. Those moments are special to me because I lost my parents very early, and all I have of them are these beautiful memories…

While I do not get the time or the opportunity to cook lunch every day at home, Sunday lunches are special — a biryani or a chicken dish with lots of accompaniments, dessert and all!

So here’s my Sunday Special Chicken Dum Biryani for all of you to try out:

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Awadhi Chicken Dum Biryani

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

500 gm rice

5 tbsp oil

1 kg chicken

1 cup sliced onions

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

5-6 cloves

2 black cardamoms

1 mace

½ nutmeg

2-inch piece of cinnamon

5-6 green cardamoms

1 tsp red chili powder

¼ tsp saffron

Salt to taste

½ tsp cardamom mace powder

¼ cup milk

½ cup yoghurt

For the rice:

8 cups water

1 bay leaf

2-inch piece of cinnamon

1 tsp caraway seeds

2 black cardamom

1 tsp oil

Method:

Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil and add the sliced onions. Fry the onion till golden in colour. Add in the chicken and sauté for a few minutes.

Add in the cloves, mace, cardamom, black cardamom, mace and nutmeg and mix in. Add the red chili powder and saute for a few minutes. Add half the soaked saffron.

Add in the beaten curds and cook till the chicken is 80 percent cooked. Remove from heat.

Remove the chicken pieces from the gravy. Strain the gravy to get the clear extract.

Remove the oil floating on the top. This is the “rogan”.

In a large pan, bring the water to boil. Add salt, 1 tsp oil. The water should taste over salted.

Loosely tie the spices for the rice in a muslin cloth and add to the water. Simmer the water with the spices for 4-5 minutes.

Add in the drained rice and cook till the rice is 80 percent done. Remove and strain the rice.

To begin layering, place ¾ of the rice at the bottom of a pan. Place the chicken pieces over it.

Cover with the remaining rice. 

To the strained gravy, add the cardamom mace powder, remaining saffron and 1 tsp milk. 

Pour the gravy over the rice.

Spread some of the rogan over it.

Dot with ghee. 

Cover and seal the pan with dough.

Place on high heat for 5 minutes and reduce the flame to a minimum and allow to cook on dum till steam escapes from the sides.

Remove from heat. Allow to stand for 10 minutes and then open the seal. 

Allow to stand for 10 minutes and then fluff the rice and serve.

Hope all of you enjoy it!

Pankaj Bhadouria is India’s first MasterChef, a television presenter, and brand ambassador for the Department of Hospitality Management, MIT, World Peace University.

— AS TOLD TO NIVEDITA