Self-confessed foodie, Niti Madan shares her favourite Christmas recipe

December 17, 2016 DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter My thoughts 7 comments

When I met dynamic entrepreneur NITI MADAN a year ago, we bonded over our love for music, live art and food. She was one of the first people I contacted for this exclusive series on Christmas and food.

Her Twitter bio says: Purple tree Productions – #content, #music, #event curation and management. #Foodie. Will own a #bakery one day. #Travel Junkie. Dreamer.

In an exclusive conversation, she agreed to share her food journey and her favourite recipe for Himachali Grilled Chicken. Read on to know more…

A fiercely independent career woman, how did you land up in the kitchen?
Who says that career women don’t love the kitchen? (Well, that is a separate discussion) I have been living alone in Mumbai for the past 8 years. About 4 years ago, I developed an interest in cooking. The ‘dal-chawal-roti-sabji’ routine was boring and I wanted to move away from it. That is when I started experimenting with food.

Hmmn…go on…
I love food and I love experimenting. I starting my food journey with experimenting through different combination of spices. A couple of years back, I started baking. Though I wanted to bake my own bread, the thought seemed quite intimidating. So I decided to start with cakes.

Tell me more about your baking journey
The eggless, butterless chocolate cake came naturally to me and turned out fantastic. (recipe here). I graduated into baking pumpkin cake, brownie butter cake, cupcakes and much more. My friends and family simply loved baking.

What about professional baking?
Well, I have catered for a few friend’s birthdays. At present, it is just restricted to family and friends. I do plan to launch a quaint eatery or bakery one day. I am blessed to have people around me who have welcomed the idea. One day I will surely take the big step towards it.

Cooking, baking, catering…what else to you do?
I am a music and event manager by profession. Since I own my business, I have lots of time to bake, cook and entertain friends. My friends are my ‘lab rats’ (laughs).

What do cooking and baking mean to you?
It is a great way to release stress. It brings me joy to see people enjoy the food cooked by me as much as I love cooking it for them.

Tell us something about this special chicken recipe you are going to share.
Each time that I have cooked this recipe, it has stolen people’s hearts. It is an absolute delight to see their plates wiped clean in no time. This grilled chicken recipe makes an excellent starter/main course at house parties. Celebrations turn extra special when the finger food is loved by my guests. I read the recipe somewhere and added a few more ingredients to it.

Where can the readers reach you?
They can email me on madanniti@gmail.com or tweet: @nitimadan. I would love to extend my expertise for their special occasions.

Himachali Grilled Chicken Niti Madan — Himachali Grilled Chicken

Recipe please!!

FOR GARNISH OR SIDE
3 onions chopped
4-5 tbps malt vinegar
1 green chilli slit in half

FOR THE MARINADE
1/2 kg chicken
7-8 cloves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 inch ginger
7-8 garlic cloves
4 chillies slit in half
leaves few mint
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp jaggery
Juice of half a lime
2 tsp ghee
salt to taste

1. Put the chopped onion, 1 green chilli and malt vinegar and mix well. Set aside.
2. Make insertions in the chicken pieces.
3. Dry roast the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin, coriander.
4. Put the spices in a mortar and pestle and grind into a powder.
5. Dry roast the aromatics ginger, garlic, chillies.
6. Mix this in the powder and grind into a nice paste.
7. Add some mint leaves, jaggery, lime juice into the paste and mix well.
8. Pour a few tbsp of ghee on the chicken and rub in the marinade. Put in the fridge for 2 hours. Then bring the chicken to room temperature and season well.
9. Heat a shallow pan or griddle with some oil and sear the chicken on high flame till nicely coloured. Turn down the heat and fry gently, deglazing with a little water to prevent the marinade from burning. Fry till golden brown.
10. Baste with a little ghee and lime juice and cook until tender and perfectly cooked.
11. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with the vinegar onions, green chillies and lime wedges
12. Serve with tandoori roti, parathas or bread

Do try the recipe at home and let me know how it turned out. Do like, share and comment on the post, it will encourage me to find more people like Niti and bring their favourite recipes to you.