Recipe: Parsi chicken farcha

This week experiment with some delicious Parsi Cuisine. Try my recipe for spicy chicken farchas. Addiction guaranteed!



Method

•  Place the chicken in a bowl and add lemon juice, garlic paste, ginger paste, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt and pepper to it. Mix the ingredients well to ensure the chicken is covered in the marinade completely.

•  Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. For best results, you may marinate the chicken overnight.

•  Before frying, retrieve the bowl from the refrigerator and mix the ingredients once again.

•  In the meantime, heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan on medium temperature.

•  In a separate bowl, crack the eggs open and whisk the yolk until it becomes smooth. Add salt, pepper and a pinch of red chilli powder to it and whisk.

•  Once the oil is hot, roll each piece of chicken in the breadcrumbs to coat it.

•  Dip the chicken in the whisked egg mixture and place it in the pan for frying.

•  Cook the chicken until it becomes golden-brown in colour.

•  Use a slotted spoon to turn the chicken around occasionally.

•  Once fried, take the chicken out of the pan one by one and place it on paper towels for the oil to soak through. Remember the chicken is not meant to be too crispy on the outside.

•  Serve the chicken hot with cooling salad or dip. Your farcha is now ready!

Olive oil vs. vegetable oil



If you are fond of cooking, you are probably no stranger to the multiple varieties of cooking oils available in the market. Of course, we all have our own favourites — depending on the types of cuisine we generally prefer — but one type of oil that is favoured by almost everyone is olive oil. Ever wonder why this is so?

Olive oil is unique as it is completely natural and contains no preservatives, meaning that it is processed only a few times during extraction. Olives are rich in anti-oxidants which cleanse the body and mono-unsaturated fats that remain liquid at room temperature and thicken once chilled. But apart from its healthy goodness, olive oil gives off a pleasant aroma and adds a distinct flavour to the food being cooked.



Unfortunately, olive oil is not suitable for dishes that take a long time to cook, owing to its lower boiling point of approximately 191^o degrees Celsius. After this point, the oil starts to break down and loses its nourishing properties. This means that foods which require more than 191^o degrees for cooking should not be made using olive oil.

If the dish you are making involves prolonged stove time, vegetable oil ought to be more suitable for you. The term ‘vegetable oil’ is an umbrella name for oils extracted from plants, including canola oil, grape seed oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil. Although vegetable oil is generally highly processed — often losing its health benefits along the process — it has a higher boiling point and can be cooked for much longer before it breaks down.

Mint and mustard yogurt dip



You can serve Chicken Farcha as an appetiser or the main entree. Either way, make sure to pair it with this cooling mint and mustard dip for added taste.

Ingredients

•  Plain yogurt 1/2 cup

•  Dijon mustard 1/2 tsp

•  Mint leaves (shredded) 1 tsp

•  Sugar 1/4 tsp

•  Ground cumin 1 pinch

•  Salt to taste

•  Pepper to taste

Method

•  Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You may add some water should the yogurt be too thick.

•  Refrigerate the mixture to allow the flavours to blend.

•  Serve chilled.

Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, November 9^th, 2014