Writing101 : Chicken Keema

Today, be inspired by a favorite childhood meal. For the twist, focus on infusing the post with your unique voice — even if that makes you a little nervous.

My mom being a working lady hardly cooked a dish fully from start to end. Usually the household helper would cook for us, except on some of those odd days where she had ample time and all the ingredients to cook for us. And if these weren’t the reasons, it was because the rest of the family had teased her so much about her having lost her culinary skills or we literally begged her to cook. These were simply our methods to coax her into cooking.

Our household helper cooked good food but then it’s always different to have what your Mom cooks. It’s as though her love is infused in the meal and we would feel it in every bite. One main reason to over-eat on such days. And the dish that I have loved through out my childhood till date is called Chicken Keema. It simply means minced Chicken. She would cook it in Indian style with the aroma making its way into every corner of the house to draw us into the kitchen and count minutes till she pronounces the dish as ready-to-be-served. Its Yellow in color because of the Turmeric, has peas, tomatoes and other spices. It has a perfect blend of salt, lemon and spices and the meat is very soft.

 

 

We would have it with home made yogurt and warm wheat rotis. I always had stomach ache after having this dish because I ended up having a roti more than my normal. After all, it was a day of celebration as Mom cooked Chicken Keema and she hardly does so. It was a family celebration of no reason for outsiders but for every reason to the family members as it made us extremely happy and gave us a moment to recollect for many weeks.

After writing this post, I realize that it has been long that Chicken Keema has been made at home, it’s time to go coax her into making this dish again now and perhaps, I will learn it too this time. I know with time, I would have to leave my mom and go but perhaps I could take the taste of her food with me 🙂