Chicken Hazarvi Kabab

My son has completed one month today. It seems like yesterday that I went to the hospital in labor pain and ground my way through the delivery process. Any mother who has nurtured her young in her womb for 9 months and suffered one of the most excruciating painful experiences of all called labor knows why a child is called the 'bundle of joy' because the exhilaration and satisfaction upon seeing your young one nestled in your chest softly inhaling the first few breaths of fresh air of his or her life is incomparable with the joy of anything else. It is the most beautiful feeling in the world.

 

My pregnancy had been a smooth one. I was lucky in a way that I never felt nauseous for once and I could eat anything and everything I wanted. Since me and my husband were on our own throughout the pregnancy and delivery period, I was quite nervous about how everything would go, but with the grace of God, everything went smoothly. One of the most important things I have always taken care of is the food I consume. Though I was alone with no one to cook delicacies for me even when I was in the advanced stage of my pregnancy, I always took care not to let my craving go unsated.

 

It is very important to give your body proper nutrition to have a healthy baby and acquire strength enough not only to push the child out of your womb into the outside world but also to rear him or her up. One of the many things that I gorged on greedily were a variety of kababs as I had huge cravings for kababs during pregnancy. Some kababs I made at home and some I brought from restaurants, but the quality of kababs available in nearby restaurants were no match with what we get back home. In fact, some restaurants kababs were very chewy and dry in texture. Hence more than often I preferred to prepare my kababs at home only. The recipe below is one of such kababs I happened to cook quite frequently. The original recipe belongs to Sanjeev Kapoor but I replaced some ingredients according to my own convenience.

Ingredients:                                                       Cooking time: 30 minutes

ü  3-4 boneless chicken breasts (cut into cubes)

ü  1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

ü  Black pepper powder, taste wise

ü  3/4th cup cheddar cheese, grated

ü  4-5 green chillies

ü  50 gm coriander leaves (chopped)

ü  1 heaped tsp garam masala powder

ü  1 egg

ü  ½ cup heavy whipping cream (optional)

ü  Salt to taste

Method:

1) Grind cheese, coriander leaves. green chillies, black pepper powder, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala powder, egg, salt and heavy whipping cream together into fine paste.

2) Marinate the chicken with this cheese mixture and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

3) Preheat oven at 180 C/350 F. Line an oven safe dish with aluminum foil. Thread chicken pieces on skewers and bake for 15 minutes. Turn over the chicken pieces and continue to bake for 15 more minutes. (You may use butter to baste the pieces if needed to keep the moist in. However, I never had to baste once as the marinade was enough to keep the pieces succulent and juicy enough.) 

4) Serve hot when done. Yummy.