Chicken chilli with butter naan

Think my favourite Indian dish is Chinese chicken chilli A Mohammed Ali Road mutton biryani a Martins Corners Goan chorizo pao and a Matunga vada pao come close But in the balance for that heady mix of ingredients adrak plus ajinomoto it is the MughlaiChinese chicken chilli that wins out And when you combine it with a freshlytossed egg fried rice or a naan my plate runneth overThis is one dish that is truly HindiChini bhaibhai And clearly it isnt just me From the pavementside dhaba to the Punjabi family restaurant to the plush finedining panAsian bistros everyone has their version of the chicken chilli Give or take a few capsicums this dish has a variation in most cuisinesBut its the chicken chilli made in the original Chinese eateries that really hits the spot So I feel some sense of nostalgic loss now that the Churchgatebased Kamling will soon be closing its doorsUh no not closing down just upgrading In fact it will be a spanking new panAsian bistro a socialite wisely told me It will be finedining Im convinced finedining refers to the quantity of food served the khana is so fine you can barely see itThink what I will miss the most are the waiters In the days of the beef ban one of the waiters in his faded maroon suit tailored perhaps during the 1962 IndoChinese skirmish told me when I asked him for hakka beef Haan yes sir it is beef but it is buffalo meat you know not um cow meat His voice lowered his eyes darting around the room in case there was a gau rakshak hiding behind the Chinese beadsSo what did you serve earlier I enquired His voice going even lower only this time his eyes twinkling guiltily Buffalo only sir but that time we never told anybody See theres nothing controversial about the chicken chilli Its made of chicken which is not a sacred bird in this countryYou order a hakka beef in a finedining setup you dont want your waiter to be a shiny annoying dude freshly worked out who wants to serve you a bean curd instead because he wants you to be healthyYou want your waiter to be rotund and endomorphic So that when you order a chicken lollipop you know hes not looking at you with judgment as you crunch into that arterybusting delicacy his expression should be as joyful as yoursOr when you tell him Can you lessen the fat in the pork spare ribs you want him to say Uh sir the taste in the pork belly is in the fat sir Maybe you would like our chicken chilli Subtext order something elseSo Im off dear reader to order my chicken chilli from my neighbouring Vishal Lunch Home The dude on the phone will ask Aapka chicken chilli kaise banao dry gravy semigravy spicy medium spicy ya no chilly Yeah its a versatile foodRahul da Cunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunha62gmailcomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates