Chicken Masala

When Singh moved to London after she was married, she craved home-cooked dal chawal, and the spicy chataka of momos. ““Cooking became a constant. Friends who’d have my food at potlucks would appreciate my cooking,” says Singh, who started her YouTube channel when she returned to India in 2014. A borrowed tripod and self-training on shooting and editing videos and Singh was on her way to success, one recipe at a time. 

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“My recipes did well in the lockdown because I created them with minimum ingredients,” says Singh, who toyed with the idea of starting a line of merchandise such as T-shirts, but making masalas made more sense. So she started making small batches with inputs from her sister- and mother-in-law. She sent them to her friends and family, including her brother, to test them in the kitchen. “Compared to what is already in the market, my mix doesn’t claim to have 36 ingredients; they are basic masalas we have always used in our home kitchen,” she smiles, adding that her chicken curry masala is a must-try.

Kabita Singh

Over three meals, this writer tried the three masalas variants—sabzi masala, pav bhaji masala and chicken masala beginning with the simple gobi masala tossed in onion and tomato paste. All we had to add was salt, and our masala barnis stared down at us, unused. A burji stall owner had once told us, the trick to making road-style burji at home is to add a bit of pav bhaji masala. For our next craving, we added Singh’s pav bhaji masala to our much-loved recipe and we were content. The compliments came in like they always do. For those who prefer their food hot, you may need to add more red chilli powder or green chillies to your dishes. 

Along with the masalas, the box comes with three recommended recipes. We gave chicken do pyaza a try and invited a friend who takes their meat consistency rather seriously to cook it with us. We had everything ready: 500 gm of chicken (curry cut), 1 cup onion, 3/4 cup tomatoes, ginger, 14 cloves of garlic, oil and salt to taste. We gave green chillies and capsicum a skip due 
to preference. 

We used mustard oil to sauté the onion, tomatoes, and ginger-garlic and blend it into a smooth paste. We shallow fried a few pieces of onions (square cuts) and set them aside as per the recipe. To three spoons of oil, we added the chicken, and fried it for about 5-6 minutes on a medium flame and fold in the blended masala paste. To this, we added a tablespoon of masala and salt, closed the lid and allowed it to cook for 20 minutes. We added the shallow-fried onions and cooked it for another three minutes. Fragrant basmati rice was ready to go alongside.

The chicken curry was wiped off clean, and some was sent to a friend for iftar. The dish would have been restaurant-standard if we had added cashew paste and malai to the pot. The masalas are homemade recipes that control the ratio of ingredients to keep them light on the stomach (for acidity) and are flavourful on the palate.

The masalas are priced at Rs 330 per pack of three 
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