Vivia: Hi, I’m Vivia Cognani and today, we’re going to pay homage to my heritage. We’re up -- Grill in
Manhattan New York, one of the only places that I like to have Indian food besides my own
home so lets go behind the burner and meet the restaurateur and chef. Hi, I’m here with
restaurateur -- Vedch, and executive chef --. Vicky, what are we making?
Male: We are going to make chicken lajawab.
Vivia: Let’s get started. We start with some chicken.
Male: Yes, some chicken, you can use other white meat or dark meat. I like the bite sized pieces and
then we have other ingredients here. Hot oil and then add ginger and garlic, chopped. Add
onions and sauté them until they get brown.
Vivia: So you want that brown color.
Male: A little brown yes.
Vivia: So now we’re ready for the spices.
Male: One stick of cinnamon, couple of cloves from a black peppercorn.
Vivia: Whole black peppercorns right.
Male: And cardamom.
Vivia: Which is a lovely Indian spice.
Male: Green cardamom.
Vivia: Got some fresh tomatoes. Do you use plum tomatoes or just a whole tomato?
Male: Whole tomato. Chopped well.
Vivia: So now more spices
Male: Yes, turmeric powder.
Vivia: Which you can buy in the Indian grocery store.
Male: Actually powder to taste the coriander powder that you get in Indian stores and cumin powder,
they’re very beautiful flavoring agents.
Vivia: So those are all lovely spices, where do you normally get them?
Male: Any Indian store you can find it, in New York, any Indian store, they all carry it. But I would
suggest if you want to take whole spices and grind them and the best thing to grind if you have a
coffee grinder at home. It’s much easier, the freshness is there, the best thing to do.
Vivia: And that’s wonderful because then you can store the spices and use them for other things.
Male: And you can use whatever you want to use. I am able to use it and so on.
Vivia: So grind what you need to use. And I believe we’re ready for our tomato puree.
Male: Yes and yogurt.
Vivia: And you can decide whether you want to go full fat or low fat assuming you’re going low fat or
full fat.
Male: Low fat.
Vivia: That’s good to know.
Male: People prefer low fat now.
Vivia: So now that we’ve added the yogurt, we’re ready for the chicken. Chicken’s going to take on
that beautiful color. So is it done yet?
Male: It’s done I think and now we finish it with a sprinkle of fresh coriander.
Vivia: Which is like on every Indian dish. You always have a little bit of fresh, you see that green.
Male: And like fresh cilantro and we normally plate it not in a plate but in a bowl because Indian food
is eaten as a family, family style so we all share it.
Vivia: So tell us about this big spread.
Male: You know mostly about it, we have here basmati rice, the main bread the paratha, we have the
chicken, minced – with chicken --, pickled mushrooms, the mixed vegetables and the chicken
lajawab and lastly but not the least important is the Panini you made.
Male: Panini is a very simple dish, you just have some cottage cheese cubes cooked with onions and
tomatoes and a bit of chat masala and there it’s ready.
Vivia: And what are we drinking?
Male: The icing on the cake here in the meal is a beer which then creates a very very tasty and
flavorful and fun and it’s moved on the backend through your – and compliment the flavor of
very bountiful tasting food, Indian food which is nice for 47 years.
Vivia: Cheers. Thanks for having us. For a limited time only, you can visit – Grill in Manhattan New
York and mention Behind the Burner to get 15% off your entire check. Stay tuned to Behind the
Burner where we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on
fire.
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