Chak's Hunter's Chicken ( Shikari Murgi )

Chak's Hunter's Chicken ( Shikari Murgi ) 

In the old colonial days of the Raj, a common pass time of the Nawabs of Lucknow was to go hunting for 'teetar' or partridge. Telegraph poles were newly installed and the partridge somehow found the telegraph lines a convenient perch. There would be lines of these birds sitting on the telegraph wires and the Nawabs found it a great sport and test of their skill to be able to shoot down the birds while they were roosting on the wires.Inevitably, they returned home with their game bag overflowing and woe betide the khansama (head household cook) if he didn't come up with a great teetar dish.

Partridges are not to be found in such abundance these days so we must make do with chicken. So here's the old royal teetar dish reproduced with chicken! Enjoy!

Ingredients :-

2 chicken breast, cut lengthwise into half.

Juice of 3 fresh limes

4 tbsp onion paste

2 tbsp garlic paste

3 tbsp ginger paste

2 tsp red Kashmiri chilly powder

1 gm Saffron dissolved in warm milk

100 gms butter

Salt to taste

Preparation :- Slash the chicken breasts in 2 places, marinate with fresh lime juice and juice of ginger, garlic and onion. Sprinkle chilly powder generously and keep covered for 1 hour. Heat butter in a suitable pan to accommodate all the chicken pieces at one time. When butter starts melting, place the drained chicken pieces with ribs facing downwards. Sprinkle a few pinches of chilly powder over the chicken pieces and cook on medium heat. Turn the pieces only once just for 1 minute and turn them back again. When the chicken pieces turns golden in color and all the moisture has evaporated, add 1 ½ cup of hot water and the Saffron milk. Continue to cook on medium heat till water evaporates. Take the pieces out , garnish with chopped spring onion and coriander leaves. 

Serve with Peas Pilao (and a few dancing girls for good measure!).