Weird things happen to me. For instance I was born blue. No really, I was (*reasserts emphatically* )born blue colored. Why? There could be many reasons for that. One,mother is an alien who my dad had bought back from his trip to Mars. Two, I was born to Red Indians who painted me blue as soon as I was born. Three, I’m made of water. Four, None of the above. I would prefer it very much if the first option was true. However it is not. And to my great disappointment( and broken fantasies), neither are second and third. There was a medical reason for it. A nurse in the hospital turned off my mom’s oxygen supply(accidentally, i s’pose), and by the time someone came in, she was blue. And so was the baby, which was me. It was no surprise that I too came out blue. I guess I should just be glad that I came out alive. A few minutes more without oxygen would’ve been my ticket to heaven. Obviously my father bought the hospital down, calling the staff ‘careless’ and err….quite a few other colorful words. However mom’s major worry was that I was a girl(I still am), and I’d probably not like growing up blue while the rest of the world was white,pale or brown.(Ahh..this beauty conscious world). My cousin was born two days after me. And he was………yes,perfectly white with pink cheeks….cherubic, gurgling, …..perfect kind of baby that you see in nappy ads. So obviously he was getting more hugs and kisses than me(which is quite unfair…people are so racist….just because I belonged to the blue race didn’t mean that I should be neglected). However, to mom’s great relief, I returned to normal ‘baby color’ just in a week(Actually not very miraculous, since my oxygen deficit was being made up for). “I mean, you’re a girl. It would’ve been a tough life, being blue”, mom says, whenever I ask her to talk about my ‘blue birth’. I don’t know what made me write this stuff today, but of late I’ve been doing weird things. Was just wondering if that very initial oxygen deprivation addled my brain? just a little bit…..not too much,of course.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg chicken
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp crushed cumin
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 8-10 green chilies cut in halves
- 2 tsp ground red pepper
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 3 cardamom-crushed
- 5-6 tomatoes diced
- 4 tbsp butter
- 5 tbsp oil
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp of ginger finely sliced(for garnishing)
How To Go About It
- In a wok add butter and oil with diced tomatoes. Add the salt, black pepper,red pepper,turmeric,paprika and the ginger-garlic paste. Also add the chicken and water. Cover with a lid and let it simmer on low heat. Cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Use a spoon to crush the tender tomatoes.
- Add the green chilies. and chopped coriander leaves. and crushed cardamom.
- Let it simmer for 5-7 minutes then turn off heat.
- Garnish with sliced ginger.
- Serve with tortillas/peta bread/ paratha/naan.
Spicy Mint-coriander chutney
Ayesha Jamal 
