Screw Calm and Keep Butter Chicken

Of the thousand days I spent eating food, I never thought I'd pen this down. Having eaten it a million times, I never thought I'd sit and write my love for it.

Yes it may come as no surprise that  I'm a foodie. Yes I'm one of those people who travel to places just to check out  the food. Yes I'm  a Michelin star struck -watching too much TLC and reading too much Veer Sanghvi on Sundays kind of person .

I'm one who'd make friends based on food preferences . Okay that says a lot , and it's not entirely true but food plays a pretty major contributing factor when it comes to making new friends. It's  the perfect conversation starter.(YES The pun was intended ) . So so so coming back to the point .

So, FOCUS guys. There are tons of food items to discuss and debate about. But today is special, it's an ode. A non poetic,straight from the stomach one.

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title reads calm and butter chicken? Yes all those lovers of the traditional Indian recipe of cooking chicken under the tomatoes and tons of ghee this one goes out to you.

Butter chicken, my love, the perfect salute to being an Indian . The solution to every day.I tell my friends abroad with great pride I'm from the land where this delicious meal was invented .

 You can travel the world, you can taste penne , you can all have sorts of fondues, blueberry cheese cake could give strong competition, but nothing and I swear I mean it , nothing beats butter chicken when it comes to gastronomical satisfaction . A sense of belonging comes to you when you eat this. I swear I felt Indian the first time my mom served me butter chicken. Bowl full of happiness.Bliss.Gratitude. YES, I felt them all at the same time. 

I salute the hands who invented this. *insert teary-eyed bollywood mommy smiley*

With great fame comes great responsibility of living to expectations . This particular dish has been very used to what we call customization and after having had butter chicken and naan at 23467834949484 places I remember how I quoted ,"too creamy", "too dry" , "too gravy-ish " "too bad to be butter chicken" after tasting them .

As far as I remember butter chicken was an accidental discovery at the old Moti Mahal , I don't know much  about the original Moti Mahal but the others suck. Pretty much.

 Their butter chickens are too tomato-ish like they have a place cthey get tomatoes for free dude . 

Though, that's the scene with most north Indian dishes. Take Shahi Paneer for example. Anything orange and requiring cream and tomatoes needs to be loaded with tomatoes because hey we are a bollywood obsessed country and so what if we can't go to La Tomatina, let's serve it in plates. Let's have them so much tomatoes that they resent the vegetable( I KNOW IT'S A FRUIT. seed fact? So 6th grade)

So ending the tomato story overload, we speak of where to find the best butter chicken?

And Bukhara has the best daal , but their butter chicken too bleh. Puran da dhaba , Ambala. Yeah The Mutton, not the chicken. I know my food right.

 The place which offers the best butter chicken in Delhi has got to be The Dhaba at Claridges (Aurangzeb road ) !! 

What gravy, what oil , what thickness and that baby chicken so soft . Gastrorgasmic is the word . Delhi boys , word. If you want to satisfy girls , drop chocolates . Take her out to a lavish meal of butter chicken. Let the girl eat her feelings out . She will give you the good loving that night .

                                       

Concluding this article( Well Almost concluding) , I'd like to acquaint you all with the fact that a better butter ( alteration, OH YEAH)chicken is available at Chandigarh and if you live there and are reading this please have me over . That's cos I had a butter chicken there in grade 3 and haven't been over it. It's a ten year old love. It was magic. so you can ask me, After all this time and like a harry potter fan, I'd say 'Always'.

So you thought that Chandigarh had the best chicken. 

Funny thing someone told me , a lot of shops there take it from Amritsar.

Woah, Shocker.

There is an underdog in this culinary 'where do you get the best butter chicken' WAR. HOLY SHIT. where did this come from? Yes friends, DELHI and CHANDIGARH can not provide you what Amritsar can. It's the underdog champion, the dark horse. But believe you me, once you taste the chicken at the dhabas there, you shall forget your five stars.

 This article has a flair for melodrama, but what would we Indians without it? Admit it you may enjoy watching inception because hey intellect is the new status symbol, you may even enjoy the occasional spaghetti for a brunch or two, but at heart you are Bollywood loving butter chicken Indian full of pride.

So to all the burahsss and licking fingers ,I rest my case.