Murg Makhani au Vin

It has been a week of sorts at both personal and global levels. I spent a fair amount of time at the doctors office dealing with a procedure of sorts. That is always annoying to me. My cousin and uncle are supposed to visit this weekend, but they are flipflopping between tomorrow and Sunday, well...

The whole Iran election has touched an unknown chord with me. Not sure why?

Added to that the Michael Jackson new has also saddened me in an unexpected way. If you are in the vicinity of the 40 number, you have grown up to his music, and it really troubles me to head of someone dying so alone. I wanted to do something to feel a little better and had to cook something company worthy as they say. I could not help remembering this New York Magazine article that I husband had pointed out. It was about this Indian guy in Paris with an Indo-French recipe. I liked the article but thought it was especially thoughtful of my husband (non-cook him) to save the recipe for me. Well, the thought of the recipe lingered although I had no article. I came up with something along the lines. I have to tell you if I have something along the lines of a signature spice, it is tandoori masala. So I came up with this chicken dish, which I have to tell you was pretty good.

Murg Makhani au Vin

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 -inch piece peeled ginger

4 pods peeled garlic

4 fresh green seranno chilies

3 lbs chicken on the bone, (skinned and cut into small pieces)

2 tablespoons tandoor masala (a commercial blend works fine)

1 teaspoon salt

1 large lemon

1/4 cup butter

2 onions, sliced into 3/4 cm rounds

3 pieces star anise

2 cups chardonay

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3/4 cup sliced grape tomatoes

For the garnish

2-3 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Method of Preparation

1. Grind the ginger, garlic and green chillies into a paste.

2. Mix into the chicken with the tandoori masala and salt.

3. Squeeze the lemon juice and set aside for 30 minutes.

4. Heat the butter and add the onions and star anise and cook for 3-4 minutes.

5. Add the chicken and cook till the water is evaporated and the butter resurfaces. This takes a good 15 minutes. Stir the chicken for another 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned.

6. Add in the wine and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and tomatoes and cook for another 15 minutes. By now a thick sauce should and formed and the chicken should be very soft.

7. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and black pepper.

While this was cooking I did take some time to scope out the original article that inspired this dish. Ok so I did not even use the right wine, but this was a nice article and I think you will like my chicken.