Garlic Chicken

Today I want to share a couple of good news with you guys. Let's first start with the food part! The summer fest was supposedly coming to an end with summer or so did we thought! The idea became so popular among the fellow bloggers that Margaret Roach and her friends who started this fest together thought of having some more fun for a little longer so the summer fest is being extended…and will be renamed to Fall Fest once summer officially ends. This week's theme ingredient was Garlic.



The whole fun about such events is the challenge in it! Although garlic plays a very big and significant role in Indian food but still I wanted to bring something simple to the table that anyone can make. I gave it a lot of thought but then A's idea sounded brilliant! He suggested that I make Garlic Chicken.



Although I don't really believe he actually wanted to help me and not just have some chicken for dinner, I still liked the idea. Specially because you don't need to rush to the supermarket or some Indian grocery store to buy ingredients for this recipe. Its pretty straightforward! For this recipe you just need chicken and tons of garlic along with some basic ingredients like lemon and what you have in your spice shelf. So without further ado, let me just come right to the point. Let me tell you how you can make this beauty in you own kitchen.



Ingredients: 


1 pound cut chicken (I used boneless skinless breasts and a few drumsticks. You can use any part)
15-17 cloves of garlic
2-3 thai green chili (you can even use cayenne pepper or jalapenos according to how much heat you can handle)
1 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional just for color)
6-8 whole cloves (optional)
2 whole cardamom (optional)
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt.

Make a paste of ginger, chili and about 10-12 cloves of garlic. Mix it with yogurt and lemon juice. Add as pinch of salt and marinate the chicken with it.
Let the chicken marinate for a couple hours.
After the chicken is marinated use a thick bottom skillet or pan for cooking.
Smash 5-6 cloves of garlic. If you are using cloves and cardamom along with garlic throw it in the cool skillet. Pour olive oil and turn the heat to medium. Slow heating of the pan infuses the olive oil beautifully with the flavor of garlic and cloves which will be so distinct in your chicken when you taste them (I nearly died when I had my first bite!)
When the oil is hot enough, add onion. Let it saute until golden.
Now add the marinated chicken. If you are using turmeric, add that too.
Add salt when the chicken is half cooked.
Let it cook on medium low heat stirring occasionally. Slow cooking brings out all the flavors (if you think your chicken is taking longer, cover it and cook by stirring occasionally.)
The chicken doesn't have any gravy and should be done in 20-30 minutes.
Serve with rice or your choice of bread or naan.




If you think you want to know more about the summer/fall fest click here.



Now the second news. Many of you might have heard about DMBLGiT and if you haven't, let me say in the words of the founder that "it is the grandest foodporn event" on the web! This is a monthly food photography event in which many bloggers participate and then a few winners are announced. And this month yours truly was among the lucky few! Thanks Cooksister for hosting the event and Jaenne and judges for appreciating my work!