The Chicken takes the Flour!

In how many ways can one eat a chicken? Let me count the ways.......

There is one way which outright beats every other way - The Atta Chicken, a whole marinated bird encased in a flour ball and roasted in a tandoor. And it comes all the way from Kotkapura (Faridkot District, Punjab), about 125 km or so from Ludhiana and about 9+hours drive from Delhi.

 

So what makes people go all ra ra over this blackened misshaped oblong-ish football looking ball of wholewheat flour that houses a chicken? Chicken story you can say.

Lets start at the beginning. A couple of years ago, some friends dropped two Atta chicken balls. Microwave it for 10-12 minutes or put it in the over for about 15 minutes or so was the instruction. Ok fine, will do so was my skeptical response. In my mind the idea of a chicken encased in a dough case was not something I looked forward to. The family loved it, I didn't even try. It was a smallish chicken, the marinade didn't look inviting either (more on a dull, pale brownish side) and the nuts seemed an odd addition to me. So gave it the ho humph treatment!

There was however, no respite from the Atta chicken invasion in this household, it seemed to turn up with regular impunity. In fact, once a vehicle was dispatched all the way from Delhi to ferry as many as could be procured and parceled out to family and friends. The myth around it continued to grow.

The shop it is said is but a hole in the wall affair and is about 40 years old. The story goes that the founder Kanwarjit Singh Sethi's father served as an officer in the army somewhere in the North Frontier region including Afghanistan in pre-partition days.. The secret recipe is therefore an Afghan heritage. Today Kanwarjit and his son run the show. The family not only refuses to part with the recipe, but adamantly refuses to expand too. The desi chickens are said to be marinated over night, each chicken is then wrapped in a cheesecloth and covered with a half inch or more of  atta dough and then cooked in a blazing hot tandoor. The resultant affair is a charred ball of atta.

Atta Chicken as it looks

 

Microwave or oven heat the Atta chicken, remove the shell and it's like a magic box opening.....chicken melting off the bone and strewn with almonds. And this time- maybe the freezing cold weather, close friends and the vodka-tonic combination worked- I dived in too. Luscious, delicious and so very light, simply finger-licking. 

Come dig in!

As it happens with all secret recipes, much of the evening was devoted to figuring out the marinade ingredients. Following much discussions and suggestions, some quite hilarious, and difference of opinions, we surmised that the marinade would be a mash of curd/cream, a tad of cumin powder, almond/pistachio(and probably charmagaz/melon seed) paste, salt, some red chili powder or white pepper powder. The marinade was rubbed both all over the chicken and inside too and lots of almonds (probably the raw kind) was stuffed in.

This is a guessed recipe waiting to be tried out.

For those fortunate enough to be able to source the Atta chicken, the suggestions is hit the outlet in the first half of the day, by late afternoon we are told everything is sold out! The price is not too heavy either- Rs 350 or so a piece. The outlet is at Pheruman Chowk, Jaito Road, Kotkapura, Faridkot, Punjab. Call +91-9888020962 and +91-9888022962 or 01635-224062.