Passport & Plate - Pollo alla Siciliana
Italy | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
1 chicken
Olive oil according to need.
2 onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
8 Black Peppercorns
3 Bayleaf
1 small glass of white wine
1 small cup of orange juice
Juice of 2 pomegranates
Salt to taste
1/2 Stick - Cinnamon
Red chilly powder
How to prepare this recipe1. Put the cleaned and dried chicken in a large dish.
2. Cover it with enough salt and oil and leave for a while (30 minutes).
3. In the meantime, fry the sliced onions, diced garlic, peppercorns and bayleaf until golden brown.
4. Heat oil in another pan and fry the chicken pieces in very less oil until they are golden brown.
5. Add white wine, orange juice and pomegranate juice.
6. Add a part of the fried mixture of onions and garlic .
7. Cook on high heat till the first boil.
8. Lower the flame and cook till the chicken is tender. Gravy shouldn’t be very dense.
9. Add cinnamon, red chilly powder to taste.
10. Check for salt.
11. Add the rest of the fried mixture of onion and garlic and cover.
12. Serve with rice or bread.
The story behind this recipeI was travelling alone this time to Dharamkot, a village in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, when my bus got stuck in a massive traffic jam due to a landslide. After waiting for what felt like ages, I decided to walk. The sun was setting and I reached the point where landslide had occurred, looking for a way to go across, when I saw a guy, a local from the hills, going downhill from a little pathway on the mountain. I asked him if he could guide me to the other side, he agreed.
Excited to reach my destination, I followed him. It got dark within some time, and now I could feel my stomach rumbling out of hunger. This man, Joshi, was carrying some fruits, veggies and a dead chicken in his hands, which he told were for the two foreigners camping in a little village downhill. At the camp, I met these two Italian photographers, both in their mid fifties, trying to light some sort of a bonfire. I got to know that Joshi was the driver to these two and their car is also stuck due to the landslide. Andrea is settled in India with his Indian wife, Nishu, and has travelled India much more than many Indians, and Luciano, Andrea’s oldest friend, is from Bologna.
They started cooking and offered me food and shelter, as it was late now. I couldn't say no, Andrea had already begun telling the story behind this recipe. In the medieval times, Sicily was facing a tough time, Government levied heavy taxes and priests were misusing their power. Sunday lunch after mass has to be something special. This recipe is easy and was a poor man’s delicacy. All ingredients were easily available in Sicily as they are in Himachal Pradesh. The Sicilian cuisine combines sweet and sour, which gives that special bittersweet flavor to this. Travellers for life, these men shared some unbelievable stories and inspiring experiences over the extraordinary meal. Andrea and Nishu, are more than family now, and they keep inspiring me to travel more, know more cultures, their food and the stories behind them.
