Bewda Murga [Drunk Chicken]

Ok,  let  me clarify the name first. Drunk chicken is a well known dish, which basically is chicken cooked with a can of beer :). I was watching this funny video by VehChef, and it got me going. He made chicken with todi [palm wine].  Since I’m a beer fan, I wanted to do it the beer way! So in short, ‘Bewda Murga’ is my Indianization of Drunk chicken. Lets see how I did it. What you’ll need [The Ingredients]

1. Four chicken leg pieces. [or any other part of the chicken if you wish].
2. One 500 ml strong beer.
3. One large Onion
4. Four to Five large cloves of garlic
5. Some Ginger
6. Fresh coriander [This is to garnish in the end].
7. Green Chilies, depending upon how much adrenaline you want from the dish.
8. Vegetable Oil [I would stay away from Mustard oil in this one, you don’t want a pungent smell with the awesome sweetness & aroma of beer!].
9. Red chilly powder, one table spoon
10. Turmeric Powder, one table spoon
11. Salt, one to two table spoon, depending upon taste.
12. And yes a pan, or woke [apni kadhai bhi chalegi] to cook this in.

The process.

Step 1 Prepare Onions, garlic, ginger and coriander.

Finely chop a big onion. Prepare julienne of ginger and chop green chilies and fresh coriander. Now make a paste of green chilies and garlic by hand pounding them.

Step 2 Caramelize the chicken. Place your utensil [I had a pan] on fire and add some oil to it. About four five table spoons. Now clean that chicken, shake off the excess water and throw it into the pan. Keep turning the chicken pieces to avoid burning. Keep cooking till all piece turn white. This will caramelize the skin and make the flesh tender. Now remove the chicken into some other utensil. Do not throw away the leftover oil.

Step 3 The masala!

Use the same pan. If the oil was all absorbed by the chicken, add some more. Heat the oil and add in the finely chopped onions. Stir them till those are golden brown. Now add the green chilly, garlic and ginger into it. Same procedure, stir till golden. You should smell the awesome fragrances of ginger and garlic, with bursts of green chilly now. This is when you know, your cooking rocks.

Step 4 The Infusion

Put in those chicken pieces. Give them a nice stir here in there. Add in salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder. Mix every thing well. It should now start looking consistent.

The moment is arrived, when you bring out the big guns. Open that big can of beer of yours. Take a swig and start pouring into the pan. Stir while you do so. The beer will start giving wonderful bubbles in and wonderful gravy in front of you. Mix everything well and close the lid for next 10 minutes or so.

The beer pouring!

Bubbling beer, shimmering chicken!

 

Step 5 EAT!!

Ok, calm down! Before you eat, you need to serve. Serve those beautiful, shimmering leg pieces you just cooked into a nice plate or bowl and garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander. You can serve it with some garlic breads [detailed recipe of garlic breads and bruschettas in next blog]. Open another can and you may eat now. Do not forget to invite friends over. Its no good without sharing.