It all started with a Punjabi friend returning from India & reminiscing about her trip to India.You know how food and music instantly connect people from different cultures , well this was one of them.Our mouth watering description of the food soon attracted strangers around who happily joined in, on the discussion of Indian food & culture & one thing led to another & the topic of “Dhaba food” made its entry. That opened the memory lane of good food , friends & laughter.

Driving back home, in the cold winter snow I mentally pictured a Sardar dressed as a genie holding the magic lamp at the door and asking me what I needed in the menu for dinner, and me happily telling him,”Forget the three wishes, please , get me some rich buttery Dhaba chicken & Naan right now” .Winter has a way of teasing your senses with food memories that no other season can ever surpass.
When the motivation is there, cooking is a breeze! For the uninitiated Dhaba or Punjabi Dhaba’s as they are commonly called in India are inexpensive restaurants along the highways in India, mainly meant for truckers (who were mostly of Punjabi descent) but eventually these Dhaba’s have become a destination in itself for the warm hospitality and the deliciously rich food they serve in these places. Punjabi music, laughter & friendship is a given sitting on those Charpoy’s (a bed used especially in India consisting of a frame strung with tapes or light rope, with a wooden plank in-between to serve as a table! ) and eating yummy food in the most informal settings. Food always has memory attached to it, hence it brings comfort to us even during the dreariest winter season. Thus emerged the Dhaba style chicken dish in my kitchen.
Since Dhaba’s cater to a large number of people, basic ingredients are used to create delicious outcomes . I applied the same principle in my kitchen today , making do with the ingredients available in my pantry. Lo! & behold the dish was ready in a jiffy.

Check a few of my Chicken recipes, published earlier in the links that follow :
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2018/11/10/marinated-spicy-chicken-gravy-in-yogurt-pepper-mix/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2018/03/28/curry-leaf-chicken-curry-andhra-style-karivepaku-kodi-kura/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2017/05/29/chicken-chettinad/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2017/03/04/chicken-bhuna/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2018/02/04/karahi-chicken-bangladeshi-style/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2017/01/24/chicken-soup-for-the-soul-and-to-beat-the-pesky-cold/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2015/11/25/chicken-ghee-roast-exclusively-mangalorean-style/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2015/09/07/baked-chicken-drumsticks/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2015/07/25/chettinad-chicken-roast/
https://stirringmyspicysoul.com/2015/06/20/chicken-biryani-south-indian-dindigul-thalappakattu/