Rezala

One of the greatest pleasures of my life as a journalist in Calcutta (other than writing a really good piece that got talked about!) was the long lunches and dinners shared with fellow-journalists, over which we discussed life in all its sordid, empty, futile detail, with a kind of been-there, done-that, seen-it-all sort of weariness. We hadn't, of course, seen it all. It was just easier to be that way back then. It made us feel all grown-up.

The lunches were usually in seedy restaurants around Bentinck Street and the Ananda Bazar Patrika office on Sooterkin Street (also known as Prafulla Sarkar Street). One restaurant, actually restaurant is probably too grand a word, eatery is more apt, called Sabir's was a great place for laccha naan and rezala, the sort of everyday Muslim food that Sabir's was known for. Crowded, noisy not the cleanest place around, it used to be one of my favorite lunch time haunts. Three-four of us would get a table in the large bustling dining room filled mostly with young Muslim shopkeepers in lungis grabbing a quick lunch before going back to their stores in the nearby Chandni market.

There were no printed menus, just a waiter casually coming up to us, we'd order the mutton rezala, some laccha naans and tea. The food would be on the table in seconds served in cracked, mismatched ceramic plates and bowls. The rezala -- a light lamb curry delicately spiced -- was served individually in soup bowl like dishes, the buttery laccha naans came in small chipped saucers; the oversweetened tea in small teacups without saucers. Big fat flies buzzed around everything. It was a simple delicious combination: that mild, yoghurty rezala with the greasy laccha naans (a kind of thickish flatbread made of flour and cooked on a large flat iron griddle in dollops of ghee).

The chicken rezala recipe below can be used for a lamb rezala as well, adjust the cooking time as required if using lamb.


The Recipe

1 kg chicken cleaned and chopped (don't use boneless pieces of chicken as the bones add flavor to this dish)
Sour yogurt 1 cup
2 onions sliced into thinnish rings
1 tsp tumeric paste
2 bay leaves
2 tsp ground ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp cumin and coriander powder
1 tsp chilli paste (grind 2-3 fresh chillies with water to make this)
1-2 fresh whole chillies
6 small cardamoms
5 cloves
1 small stick cinnamon
coriander leaves
salt to taste


Mix the ginger-garlic paste, the tumeric paste, the chilli paste and the coriander-cumin paste together in a cup of water. Strain this mixture and mix the strained liquid with the yogurt, salt and onions. Marinate the chicken in this for at least 2 hours.
Put the chicken together with marinade in a large pot and cook on a high flame. Bring to boil and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer, till the meat is tender and well-cooked. Remove from heat.
Add fresh chillies and sprinkle with coriander leaves before serving with steamed white rice.