Chicken Pish Pash | One Pot Chicken Rice | Chicken Rice Hotchpotch

 

March 8

Happy Women's Day to all the wonderful strong ladies out there who are making a difference to many lives each day - be it at home or at work. Life would have been dull otherwise if we women didn't do what we do daily. Even if there is only one day celebrating us officially, we should actually celebrate ourselves daily. Among the hustle of every day life let us take out some time just for ourselves and do what we want and which makes us happy. There are days when I thank the almighty, just because I got a chance to sit with a cup of hot tea and do nothing apart from just enjoying those few moments of solitude, which are just mine. And then there are days wherein I feel super creative and do a lot of things in a flow and be thankful that I could complete so much in a day. Point is, happiness is relative but we still need to feel good about all the contributions we are making, big or small or even just by being there for our families. 

Work is consuming a lot of my time these days. And when this happens my blogging and social media activities do take a backseat. I am not much of a multitasker when it comes to social media and unfortunately after a while it tires me. In all those times, I focus on just making something new and capturing it for posterity. When the ebb transforms into flow again, then I write. Its a little weird indeed how a Gemini mind works at times. I clearly feel my twin mindset.

With the change in the mercury levels, the first thing that happened was change in appetite, especially during the warm afternoons. I was never a fan of roti, but mom prefers it on the menu during the afternoon. But when the mercury shoots up, I really don't prefer roti, as it feels a little heavy on the stomach. So unfortunately, last week my mom and I both were feeling a little under the weather and loosing our appetite to have anything which was spicy or with a lot of masalas. I wanted to have rice but something which was really easy on the stomach. Now from the time mom came down to Pune this time, she has been asking me to make pishpash. But I had always shrugged her off saying that its a meal for sick people lets have something else instead. Thus finally when we fit the requirements of sick people, I relented to her request of making pish pash, but I wanted to make a chicken pish pash instead of a vegetarian version ( you see my love for non veg, surpasses my state of sickness).

Pish-Pash is an Anglo-Indian one-pot meal from the 18th Century , where rice is cooked in chicken stock along with vegetables, small chicken/meat pieces and whole spices. If desired the meat could be substituted for green gram, moong or red lentil. Its name, in fact, is borrowed from the Persian term ‘to break down something’, pashidan. The word ‘Pash’ is of Old English origin, meaning to ‘smash’ or ‘mash’ in relation to mashed meat. This is a light, hearty and healthy dish and somewhat similar to Khichadi or risotto. The term pish-pash was first recorded by English writer Augustus Prinsep in the mid-19th century. He called it "a slop of rice-soup with small pieces of meat in it, much used in the Anglo-Indian nursery". It was considered food for the basis or for the sick hence traditionally this preparation has a mushy sloppy texture.

However, pish pash is one of those dishes that not everyone is aware of.  Certain households are pish pash eaters because they know about it or not pish pash eaters because they don’t know about it. But once you have it, you will definitely like it. Pish Pash features in the famous recipe book by Lila Mazumdar under the category of 'Food for the Sick'. It is such a versatile dish that if you make it as is, it can be a good nutritious diet for folks who are unwell. But if you want to jazz things up a bit then you may as well add some beresta (fried onions), a dollop of ghee etc to make it taste more biryani like.

The dish cooks by itself, you just need to have a little patience during the process. While it can be prepared in the pressure cooker, slow cooking the pish pash on a medium flame for about an hour ensures a beautiful taste and texture as you can control the ingredients.

Check Out the DIY Background I made for this shoot.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 45  minutes

Serves: 2 adults

Ingredients:

For Marination

• Chicken - 200 gm 
• Ground Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Lemon juice - 1/2 a lemon

For Pishpash

• Starchy Rice ( Gobindobhog, Ambemohar, Indrayani etc.) - 150 gm
• Moong Daal (Optional) - 3 tbsp
• Whole Peppercorn - 10-12
• Cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Bay leaf - 1
• Onion - 1 medium 
• Baby Potato - 4 
• Green chillies - 4-5 , slitted
• Ginger - 1 inch, finely chopped
• Salt - as per taste
• Sugar - as per taste
• Butter - 2 tbsp
• Milk - 1 cup, warmed
• Water - 1 liter

For Garnish

• Beresta (Optional) - 1 tbsp
• Spring onion (Optional)- 1 tbsp 

Equipment:

• Deep bottomed Vessel

Procedure: 

1.  Start by marinating the chicken. Clean the chicken, add ground black pepper and lime juice. Toss to coat. I keep the chicken covered in the fridge for marination. Especially if you are in a hot country like me, it is recommended. Marinate for about 30 minute to 1 hour.

Tip: Rice to Chicken Ratio is 1:2 

2. Wash the rice 2-3 times and drain the water. Soak the rice 30 min before you start cooking the pish pash.

Tip: Use a good flavored rice for best results.

3. Take a flat griddle and heat it up. Once the griddle is hot add the raw Moong Daal, move around the daal with a spatula so that the daal is evenly roasted. Once fragrant, take out the daal in a bowl and add water. Wash the daal and then soak it till the time you are ready to cook the pish pash.

4. Now take a thick bottomed deep pan, add water and put it on heat. Add all the whole spices - peppercorns, cinnamon stick, cardamom and bay leaf. Cover and let the water come to a rolling boil.

5. Now add the marinated chicken and chopped ginger to it. Reduce the flame to medium. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. 

6. Add baby potatoes and slit 3 green chillis. Let it cook covered for 10 minutes.

Tip: I made small cuts in the baby potato to help them cook properly.

7. Add the onions and 1 tsp butter. Let it cook covered for 2 minutes.

8. Add the soaked roasted moong daal. Let it cook covered for 10 minutes.

9. Now add the rice, remaining green chillies and the milk and stir in. Adjust the seasoning. Put flame to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the rice is mushy. After 7 minutes, keep checking so that rice doesn't stick to the pan.

10. Rice needs to be totally mushed up, hence after 10 minutes put a flat tawa below and place the pan on it. Add 1 tbsp of butter. Let it cook on dum till the point when rice soaks up all the water and become mushy.

11. Now switch off the flame. Add chopped spring onion and a handful of Beresta (crisp fried onions) and give it a mix. These are optional however recommended.

Note: If serving to the sick, skip adding Beresta.

Serve hot and garnish with some beresta.

Check Out the DIY Background I made for this shoot.