PreeOccupied: canada

In the middle of all the Durga Puja preparations, its not my fault entirely that I live in Canada, and that Thanksgiving is today.

Neither P nor I are high on turkey, so we got on our dinner table a close second cousin of it. Though I have a fleeting feeling it’d only be one-forty-fifth part of a traditional Thanksgiving bird. We had Quails today. Bater as we know her in India. Last Thanksgiving, I had made Biryani for 20 people, for P’s office potluck. This time, I had no such ambitions. I chose to lie low and go Indian. Predictable.

These are farm-raised organic quails, I got six for $14 (that’s about INR 630). No taxes.

Growing up, we would eat quails and other kinds of game when we visited my Grandparents’ home, where some bird catcher would get hordes of them from the woods and sell them in the small town my Dida-Dadu lived. Back in the big city, a murgi wala (chicken seller) would get these on special request from my parents only once in a while. They were delicious when my Mum made them the Kosha way! The only restaurant in Delhi that I have eaten quails is Punjabi By Nature.

It had been a while since I had had quails. I don’t know many ways to cook them, so I thought doing an oft-done recipe of tandoori would save me any embarrassment and heartache if they chose to go awfully wrong. Clever.

Ingredients for Tandoori Quails/Bater are:

6 quails
Half cup plain yogurt
Juice of one lemon + half a lemon
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon green chili paste
Half tablespoon red chili paste
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
Half teaspoon black pepper powder
2 tablespoon Canola/ vegetable oil
Few drops of red food color
Half teaspoon chaat masala
Salt

Truss the quails. Marinate them with all the ingredients, juice of one lemon. Do not add oil now. I left them overnight in the fridge.

Pre-heat broiler on high. Line the marinated quails on a baking tray. Drizzle oil on each quail. Broil each side (starting from breast down), for 5-6 minutes.