Chicken Pathai

During the March Break, I tried a new dish, Chicken Pathai which is a fusion between Persian (Iranian) and Gurarat cuisines. It is considered as a greek dish, as well as a British Indian restaurant favourite.

It was not much of a challenge to cook this dish, because my mom had previously has cooked several dishes quite similar to this, and she was able to assist me during the cooking procedure.

Some basic difficulties that I faced were cutting onions, which was quite difficult (because of the tears), the splashes because of the hot oil, and the heat of the stove. Waiting for the ingredients to cook was another challenge I faced. I could not take my attention away from the pan, or else the content might burn.

Before starting to cook, I had made my own list of procedure so that I could follow and be more efficient while creating the dish. For instance, in the original procedure, the chef had pre-cut all the vegetables and the chicken, but I mixed the cutting with the cooking part. While I was waiting for the chicken and onion to cook, I cut the tomatoes, and they were ready to be put in the pan when needed. Also, I added the quantity of each spice in my procedure list, so that I do not have to refer back to the ingredient list each time to know how much of each ingredient I need.

While cooking, I tweaked some ingredients in their amount because I had more than 1 lb of chicken, plus I adjusted the dish to my families' taste, so there were certain changes in my procedure. 

The Ingredients were: 

• 45ml (3 tbsp) vegetable oil
• 500ml (2 cups) chopped onions
• 10ml (2 tsp) garlic, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.25ml (¼ tsp) salt
• 1.25ml (¼ tsp) turmeric powder
• 450g (1lb) chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 5ml (1 tsp) cumin powder
• 5ml (1 tsp) ground cayenne
• 250ml (1 cup) chopped tomatoes
• 15ml (1 tbsp) tomato puree
• 2.5ml (½ tsp) white vinegar
• 10ml (2 tsp) brown sugar or jaggary
• 1 fresh lime, juiced
• 125ml (½ cup) water

My Procedure: 

1. Chop Onions into tiny pieces
2. Heat Oil and add onions to it. Let the onions turn golden/light brown
3. Add Chicken into it. Wait till the chicken also turns slightly brown as well. 

1. Add 2 tsp. crushed garlic, 3 bay leaf, 2 tsp. of salt, 1 tsp. of turmeric powder. Mix and fry. 
2. Add 2 green chilies (finely chopped), 1 tsp. cumin powder, 1 tsp. ground cayenne. 
3. While the other ingredients are cooking, chop (3-4 tomatoes) tomatoes into small, tiny pieces.
4. Add tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. vinegar, juice of 1 fresh lime, 2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 cup water (optional, for more gravy), and 1/2 cup 35% whip cream (instead of sugar, used to give the dish a better color). 

Final Product:

Chicken Pathai tasted amazing, and I got to make it again for a party at our place, and everyone loved it. It is an awesome dish, and I am sure to master it in the future.