“Yeah, right!” That’s just one of the comments I received on a food pic that I had posted a while back. I think, the person who wrote it was “suggesting” that I could not possibly have made the dish I was claiming as mine; Tout au contraire, my friend! Not only was that prepared by me, but I also happen to be a VERY good chef … of Pakistani food … based on my Ami’s recipes … and honed by yours truly!! Yeah, right, I said it and I’m not making that up at all!

I love my Ami very, very, very, verrrrrrry much. And while our Ami and Baba (may my Baba Rest In Peace), raised my sisters and I in a manner that I respect immensely, I wish my Ami had whooped our asses (duh! figuratively, of course) and made us do more work in the kitchen. We did not grow up with a barrage of people waiting on us. We did have some help but the majority of the work was done by Ami. So, when I got married and moved to San Francisco all I could make, other than eggs, was a rather disgusting concoction of canned tuna, corn, mayonnaise and chives!! Of course, Nadir was the guinea pig and had his tastebuds challenged regularly, as he, very kindly, ate spoonfuls of it once a week, while pretending it was delicious. It was anything but delicious! Let’s just say that to call it revolting would be an understatement!

The day before I was leaving Karachi for San Francisco, towards the end of July 1997, Ami gave me a bundle of hand written notes. She kissed me on my forehead and said, “Yeh rukh lo, meri jaan, yeh tumharay kaam aiyaan gaay.” Meaning, “Keep these, my darling, as you’ll find these handy.” That precious bundle was a lifeline!! Because, beautifully written in Urdu, on orange, yellow and white sheets, torn out of a notebook, were my Ami’s recipes. Recipes that had been handed down to her from her mother. Shit, I’m getting emotional writing about it, as it takes me back to those days in 1997. Days that remind me of how very happy I was to move to another city, another country and another world, with the love of my life. And yet, how heartbroken I was to leave my city, my Ami and my Baba, my sisters, Didi and Tapie, my wonderful job of 6.5 years at an advertising agency, my colleagues and my beloved friends and of course, my old life. And my modeling career:)

As days turned into weeks and weeks into years, my yucky, tuna corn delight became a distant ugly memory:) I dove into those recipes, Ami had handed to me, and started experimenting with them. Initially, my food tasted nothing like Ami’s at home but over time I developed my own style of cooking. To this day, my food does not taste like my mother’s but I have definitely come a long way. Recently, my best friend, Safia (I know “best friend” sounds so juvenile but Safia and I met at college in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1988 and she moved to SF in 1998, so we’ve been friends/sisters/family for 32 years now) was over for dinner and gave me the BEST compliment! She said the Butter Chicken I’d made tasted just like the one my Ami used to make for us:))

I’ve written down the recipe of said Butter Chicken for you guys. It’s basically my version of an old recipe that my Ami said she’d found in an old Pakistani or Indian recipe book which she improvised and which over time has become one of my absolute favorite dish to make at home. Hope you will try it too! Please don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t turn out exactly like this (visually speaking), but I can promise that it will taste divinely delicious. One of the key steps is #7 under directions, since letting the sauce and chicken simmer gently is crucial to getting it right. Best of luck and please do circle back to let me know how it turned out!

BUTTER CHICKEN - PREP 15 MIN. COOKING 40 MIN.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

• 8 oz tomatoes, chopped

• 1 jalapeño, coarsely chopped (or 1/2 if you prefer it less spicy)

• 3 teaspoons tomato paste or tomato purée

• 1/2 pint heavy cream

• 4 oz unsalted butter

• 2 1/2 pound chicken, washed, skinned and cut into 8-10 pieces

• 1 teaspoon garam masala

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin

• 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the chopped ginger, tomatoes, tomato paste/purée and jalapeño in a blender and blend to a smooth paste.

2. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Once the froth subsides, add half the chicken pieces and sauté them over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until golden, turning once. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces. Once done place all the chicken pieces in a separate dish and keep warm.

3. Reduce the heat to low, add the ground cumin, garam masala and the paprika and stir-fry for about a minute.

4. Add the tomato and ginger mixture and continue stirring for 10 minutes (or more) until the sauce thickens and is well blended.

5. Pour the heavy cream to the pan and add the salt. Blend thoroughly but on a low flame. DO NOT boil the sauce since the cream will curdle.

6. Add the sautéed chicken pieces and any juice that may have collected in the dish.

7. Heat the sauce and chicken gently, stirring carefully. I’d say give this about 10 minutes.

8. Add the chopped cilantro and stir a bit more.

9. Transfer to serving dish and serve with rice or naans.

While practice may not have made me perfect, when it comes to cooking, I have learnt a valuable lesson. Sharing what we love most with our loved ones not only creates beautiful new memories for them but keeps beautiful old memories forever alive and cherished.

Thank you for visiting & reading my blog post!

All the photos in this blog post are by moi!!

Be safe and be healthy. Lots and lots of love from the stirrer.