Cooking was a complete no-no for me. I was the last person I thought would be interested in cooking,” says Saba Firoz, who took the kitchen seriously only after marriage. Three-and-half-years into marriage, the mother of a one-and-half-year old is now quite a pro when it comes to kitchen jobs. Saba credits much of this to her mother-in-law whom she describes as an “excellent cook.” “She passed down many a recipe, particularly Mughlai ones,” smiles Saba.

The 25-year old also mentions her “foodie husband” as “being very supportive”. “Initially when some dish would not turn out to be as it should, he would never complain,” recalls Saba. With time, Saba realised cooking was “not that difficult”. “You need to know your basics. Today I have graduated to experimenting as well,” says the lady who loves to dig into cakes, pastries and chocolates.

Saba is all for simple and easy-to-cook recipes. She rates Sanjeev Kapoor as one of the best chefs around. The fashion designing student also refers to cookbooks by Nita Mehta.

chicken nahari

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken
2 large onions, cut into slices
1/2 cup oil
4 tsp fennel
1/2 tbsp mace
2 small pieces sonth
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 cup flour
1 lemon
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp garlic-ginger paste
1/2 tsp garam masala

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add an onion and fry till golden brown.
Add chicken and 1/4 cup water. Cook without stirring till oil separates or water almost dries up. Add the garlic-ginger paste.
Add the ground sonth, mace, nutmeg powder, fennel, red chilli powder and salt.
Add enough water to just cover the meat.
Cook till about 1/4 of the water dries up.
Now mix flour with one cup water and add it to the chicken.
Cook for 10 minutes.
For baghar, finely grate one onion. Fry till golden brown.
Add this to the chicken.
Garnish with the juice of one lemon, 1 tsp garam masala and chopped coriander.
Serve hot with roti or rice.

Anumita Ghosh
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