Chicken Kabab. Full Plate Please!
Which place stays open till 3.00 a.m. every night before the lockdown in Bangalore and does not serve liquour?
EMPIRE!
Anyone who has visited Bangalore or domiciled here like me would know.
Though Bangalore has been crowned as the ‘Pub Capital’ or ‘Brew Pub’ Capital of the country, a glance at the buzzing EMPIRE Restaurant crowds thronging their Church Street outlet after midnight are strangely folks who have spilled over from Brew Pubs and Watering Holes to have a late night meal here before heading home.
It is a no-brainer that ‘Chicken Kabab’ would be the most popular order of the meal. Remember this is not your chargrilled or tandoor baked type of kabab.
This is chicken deep fried.
Medium cuts of chicken are marinated in a ‘Secret Masala’ and then deep fried. A plate of EMPIRE chicken kabab — reddish pieces of chicken, crisp and crusty on the outside and soft inside has staked its claim for Bangalore’s iconic go to non-vegetarian dish. Best had with their ‘Ghee Rice’or Porottas.
To get your bearings right, EMPIRE cooks up 12,000 kilos of chicken everyday pre-lockdown. That’s close to 7,000 birds. Their highest expenditure after staff salaries.
After much discussion, Google and You Tube searches, I finally decided to do it my way. I even got a plate home delivered for a final bite. The flavour and texture were delightfully the same, locked down or open.
I marinated cut pieces of a kilo of chicken with a mix of refined flour and corn flour, a dash of vinegar (as I did not have lemons), Kashmiri Chilli powder, jeera powder, some home made garam masala, an egg and freshly sliced and ground ginger and garlic. Mix all of this to a good paste to make your marinade. Marinate the chicken pieces well with this paste and marinate for 4–5 hours or overnight.
Heat oil in a frying wok on low flame. Once evenly hot, drop in the pieces and fry them for 5–6 minutes tossing them over in between. Done.
Though I did not add in as much flour or any artificial red colouring as the restaurant, I must say folks at home loved every bite.
Being an old Bangalorean, I still swear by the dishes of the old ‘IMPERIAL’ on Residency Road even now, but the Chicken Kabab of EMPIRE gets my vote.