Beer & Lime Grilled Chicken

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! I've always been a big fan of grilled chicken. Ever since I was little, I remember being immensely fond of tandoori chicken, kebabs, and all things barbeque, and despite my then diminutive size, I could really pack it away.

My best friend growing up, was Parsi Drama Queen. When we weren't at school (or breaking window panes playing cricket or football with the rest of our friends), we'd spend hours on end playing trump cards on his front porch, or classic 8 bit video games on the little telly in his parents' room. From kicking him awake when the professor came our way in class, letting him copy off my test papers (he still managed to score more than I did!), to pigging out at the buffet at the new years' parties at the hotel where my Dad worked, we spent an inordinate amount of time together and it was no surprise that his family treated me like one of their own. On a summer evening back in the late '90s (we were probably 13 at the time), I was invited to his house for a barbeque. I arrived at his place just as his brother, Never Without A Smile, was furiously fanning the coals trying to get them to stay alight. Now, Parsi Drama Queen was quite rotund and had an appetite worthy of his size, whereas I was about half his size but boasted a much larger appetite than one would expect. As Never Without A Smile started roasting potatoes, Parsi Drama Queen and I decided to have an eating contest to finally put the matter of who could eat more, to rest. Once we'd polished off the potatoes, Never Without A Smile popped the chicken on the grill, and the contest began. For nearly an hour, Parsi Drama Queen and I matched each other piece for piece as Never Without A Smile kept grilling until he abruptly stopped. As we waited for the next piece, Never Without A Smile realized that there was no more chicken left to grill. The 5 chickens that he had lovingly marinated were over. Parsi Drama Queen and I had eaten 2 and a half chickens each! To make matters worse, there was no food in the fridge either, save for some left over dal and still frozen sausages. But Never Without A Smile, the saint that he is, didn't complain (not while I was there anyway, no idea what happened after), and proceeded to heat up the dal and thaw the sausages for his dinner. Since the chicken was over, and we had eaten an equal number of pieces, the  contest was deemed a tie, until my chubby friend claimed that because he had eaten 2 potatoes against my 1,  he deserved the title, and crowned himself champion.

This recipe is one of many that you can use to make some lovely grilled chicken, and despite it's western feel, pairs surprisingly well with butter naans or rumali rotis.

For my Beer & Lime Grilled Chicken, you will need the following:

Chicken breasts	2-3
Beer	200 ml
Lime	1
Ginger	1 inch piece
Garlic	3 cloves
Worcestershire sauce	splash
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Mince the ginger and garlic.
2. Butterfly the chicken breasts.
3. Make little cuts on the meat to better soak in the marinade.
4. Plop the meat in a bowl.
5. Pour in the beer. (I used a nice malt beer.)
6. Squeeze in the lemon.
7. Drop in the minced ginger and garlic.
8. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper.
9. Splash in the Worcestershire sauce.
10. Mix.
11. Stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a griddle pan on.
3. Splash in some oil and spread it evenly.
4. Wait until the oil heats up.
5. Fish out the chicken breasts from the bowl and slap them on the pan. 
6. Step back from the sputtering oil.
7. Pour on some of the marinade on the chicken as it's cooking.
8. Cook for 5-6 minutes and flip the chicken over.
9. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
10. Crank the heat up, and flip the chicken a couple of times for a few seconds each to get the grill marks.
11. Serve.
12. Stuff face.
13. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Keep basting the chicken with a little marinade from time to time to keep pumping it full of flavour.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!

Besan Waali Arbi

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! When you need gram flour and there isn't any at home, and the stores are closed, where do you go? To a Gujarati parent with 2 sons, because they have 'be-son'! Geddit? Huh? Huh? I'd apologize for how bad this joke is, but you know I'm not really. And this isn't the last one either! (Evil laugh!)

Speaking of Gujarati's, I have a few very good Gujarati friends, including the lovable Refugee, who used to crash in our spare room in Antrim, Northern Ireland, back in 2011. Over the years, however, our roles were reversed and when Refugee moved to London, when I wasn't paying him and his Mrs. a social visit, I shamelessly used his pad as a place to crash when travelling in and out of London. Have an early morning flight from London? No problem! Just take the train from Solihull to London the evening before, and crash on Refugee's couch. Schengen visa appointment early Monday morning? No problem! Just take the train from Solihull to London the evening before, and crash on Refugee's couch. All for the very small price of cooking the odd dinner as a thank you. When I wasn't taking advantage of his hospitality, we'd go out, watch movies, eat some delectable Hyderabadi biryani, toss back a few beers, and watch football.

On one occasion, we went to a pub called Pepper Saint Ontiod in Canary Wharf in London to surprise a friend who played gigs there with her band. After chugging back a few beers (I was looking for a reason to keep going back to the bar to speak to the very cute bartender girl), eating, cheering loudly for the band, and basically having a great time, we helped the band pack up and lug their ridiculously heavy equipment and put them on a train back home. Since it was late, and because we were greedy despite eating at the pub, we popped into a nearby Indian restaurant to grab some takeaway to eat when we got home. Then it was home, dinner, bed, followed predictably by a hangover the following morning.

While the takeaway was nothing to write home about, this recipe certainly is, and if you like arbi half as much as I do, you'll love it.

For my Besan Waali Arbi, you will need the following:

Arbi (Colocasia/Taro root)	500 gms
Besan (gram flour)	2 cups
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Green chillies	2
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Mince the garlic.
2. Chop the chillies.
3. Grab a pressure cooker.
4. Plonk the arbi in.
5. Fill it with water until the arbi is submerged.
6. Sprinkle in some salt. 
7. Slap on the lid.
8. Turn on the gas.
9. Bung the pressure cooker on. 
10. Wait until the first whistle begins.
11. Turn off the gas just as the pressure cooker is about to whistle. (Any more and you'll have a mushy mess!)
12. Wait until the steam leaves the pressure cooker.
13. Open the lid.
14. Cool the arbi down with cold water.
15. Peel the skin off.
16. Cut the arbi into biggish pieces.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in the oil. (I sometimes do half oil, half ghee.)
4. Count to 20.
5. Pop in the garlic.
6. Roll in the chillies.
7. Take in the wonderful aroma.
8. Gradually add in the besan. 
9. Mix until you have a nice smooth paste.
10. Add salt to taste.
11. Mix and cook for a couple of minutes.
12. Drop in the arbi.
13. Mix until the arbi is well coated with the besan.
14. Cook together for a few minutes.
15. Turn the gas off.
16. Serve with hot rotis.
17. Stuff face.
18. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: I love eating besan waali arbi with yellow moong dal; when I finish my rotis, I mix the remaining arbi in with the dal and eat it. Try it. It's ace.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!