Mediterranean Meets the Indian GI

We’d like to think that the lockdown has motivated us to pay attention to what we put in our body. Health and a balanced diet have climbed back up the priority ladder as home cooking rose to the occasion. It isn’t news that the Mediterranean diet, rich in seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, is one of the healthiest diets in the world for longevity.

So we decided to tweak a classic Mediterranean dish, and make it with only Indian GI-tagged ingredients.

What you will need:

• 2 tablespoons ‘Chulli’ or dried apricot oil from Himachal Pradesh
• 2 tablespoons roasted ‘malai poondu’ or hill garlic from Kodaikanal
• 250 grams Kadaknath chicken meat from Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh

• 2 tablespoons Kalamata olives (yes, these aren’t Indian. But still GI tagged!)
• 1 teaspoon black cumin or ‘kala jeera’ from Himachal Pradesh
• 1 teaspoon Malabar pepper from Kerala
• 1 teaspoon chopped Raja Mircha (King Chili) from Nagaland

• 125 grams Naga tree tomatoes, diced
• 3 tablespoons of juice from Manipur’s Kachai lemon
• Salt

Directions:

Heat up a saucepan and add the chulli oil, hill garlic and chicken meat, and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, olives, cumin, pepper and chilies, and cook for another minute, until combined. Pour in the lemon juice and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes until the sauce is reduced and chicken cooked. Add salt to taste and serve atop some Manipuri black rice!