Friday, June 26, 2015

Aam Pudina Grilled Murgi -- Chicken grilled with Mint-Green mango chutney



Yesterday was the dress rehearsal at LS's dance class. Being an Indian classical dance you can well imagine the lengths one had to go to, getting the child dressed. But this post is not about the dance so let us not deviate.

I usually drop Little Sis off at her dance class and come back to pick only later. Yesterday however I had to stay back to check with the teacher if the dress and get up was okay or anything more was to be done. The place was full of little girls all in traditional costume and their Moms. Mostly the parent/guardian was female so I assume it was the Mother except for one whose Dad was there.

Now on other days I see many Dads doing the drop off and pick up but yesterday it was mostly Mothers. I guess it was because they were in charge of the costume and make up for the child. Now this particular Dad who was there yesterday wasn't just doing a drop off. He had come armed with full knowledge of what his daughter's dress and makeup should be and was not afraid to ask questions. His daughter, a little girl of probably eight was beautifully dressed but was missing a couple of fake jewellery.There were a few other kids who were missing the same.

The teacher handed them the pieces and said it has to be secured with safety pins. Most of the Moms were clueless and did not have any safety pin on them. I myself had just bought a box of safety pins the day before and the box was tucked away at home.As we were looking around, this particular gentleman fished out a box of safety pins from his bag and fixed his daughter's jewellery. He then also took out some bobby pins and fixed her hair. When all was done, he shared a few of the safety pins with us too. I was really amazed at how well prepared and organized he was compared to moi. Maybe it his wife who had packed the bag, maybe it was his super organized nature but he seemed like a pretty good Dad to me.

The resident Dad is an all rounder and I often get to hear how my life is extremely easy as the Dad chips in.I am happy to see that there are more of his kind.



Now I usually don't sing paeans of anyone except myself and food on this blog. Today however I will deviate from the norm to acknowledge that the husband-man is a great Dad. Now that I think of it, he is so much better as a Father than a husband that I should have probably named him Dad-man, kind of like Bat-man but NOT Bad-man.

So, anyway he is a good Dad in so many ways that many a times I have to work overtime and hang on dearly to my halo of motherhood, in the fear that it might be snatched any day.I mean,you do understand that motherhood comes with a halo, right?

But anyway this is not about me or any mother. This is about the Dad, the girls' Dad.

Who efficiently packs school lunches without losing sleep over the fact that a grilled cheese sandwich is being packed for two consecutive days.
Who shampoos and conditions the girls' hair when needed but doesn't stress if a bath is skipped. Well one time that the little one got head lice, he took care of that too without even asking me for any direction.
Who can tie their hair and make sure that they look good for the class photograph even when the whole thing has skipped my mind.
Who follows their grade closely and sets the bar high without worrying about if-and-when such demands bring stress. In the long run they really don't.
Who lets the 6 year old handle a screw driver and insists that they help him in all the fix-up projects around the house.
Who makes sure to be present in every recital, school performance, open house, parent teacher meeting even when I would rather go by myself.
Who is not afraid to play the bad cop if that helps the cause.

With this kind of a Dad resume,it is easy to see why I am not necessarily the center of my daughters' universe. I am one of the foci rather.

Now I must make it clear that doing or not-doing any of the above task does not make the greatest father. When I was growing up, it was usually not the norm for Dads to be so involved in the children's lives. We were mostly heavily dependent on our Mothers. And even then my Baba who was not at all adept at work around the home, always polished my shoes and ironed my school uniform skirt pleat by pleat.He is a very good Father in spite of not packing a single school lunch..

But it has been way more than two decades since I was a kid and isn't it natural that in today's world a Dad should be able to do the tasks that a Mom does with ease ?

Yet we like to believe they can't. We tell them they can't. We think that our kids' will probably starve to death if the Dad is in charge. We like to make fun of the fact that a Dad is clueless. It helps them to just act dumb and not do things that otherwise is not really difficult(I know that kind, I act the same when we have to assemble any IKEA furniture).

And in turn it boosts our ego.

Disclaimer: This does not apply to Fathers who do not deserve to be a Dad and should not have become one in the first place.Believe me there are those kinds. They are just lousy humans and none of this applies to them.



The Aam Pudina Murgi with the Mint-Green Mango Chutney that I make is in similar lines with my Kaancha lonka Murgi and Dhaniya Pudina Chicken

First Make the Mint-Coriander paste
I used a cup of mint leaves, half a cup of coriander, half of a raw mango, two green chillies and made a paste with a splash of water. The paste should be on the thick side.

I then added sugar and salt to the paste until it tasted just right. If your mango is not too sour add a little lime juice to makeup for the tang.

Marinate 1lb of chicken breast, cut up in small pieces, with
3/4th of this paste
1 tbsp of garlic paste
1 tbsp of Olive Oil
salt
Keep aside for an hour.

Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade, shake off any excess and arrange the pieces on a baking tray. I drizzle a little oil on the pieces before they go into the oven.

Preheat Oven to 350F. Bake the chicken for 20-25 minutes. If you DO NOT want to proceed to gravy then cook till chicken is done. Note: These are my Toaster Oven settings
You can do the same on a grill too.



Now heat some Mustard Oil in a pan

Add 3-4 slit green chilli and half a cup of chopped onion. Actually you can skip the onion if you want.


Follow with small pieces of raw mango, tossed in salt. 6-8 small pieces is fine.

Saute until onion becomes pink and the mango pieces become soft.

Add rest 1/4th of the paste and cook for 2-3 minutes

Add the chicken and toss for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot.



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3 comments:

  1. Perhaps this is how dads ought to be. Perhaps we have been lied to. Perhaps the dads have been lied to too. This girl's dad is really "brave", to be breaking stereotypes like that. So glad you wrote the post. Great idea for a grilled chicken too!

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  2. Lucky BS and LS to have such a wonderful dad.... My father was a single parent and I personally feel that my Dad did a far better job than my Mom(with due respect to my late mom) could have possibly done. Good to read a post on Dad.

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  3. I am a man, but I can cook pretty well. I can take care of my daughter except her hair which always confuses me. This must be because I dont have any. Before I became a dad, I would have been convinced that any man who knows how to handle a safely pin must be gay.

    The chicken idea is very good. Going to try it in the coming weekend.

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