Chicken in oyster sauce and Red - the end

As a result of all the visions she kept having over all these years, Arva had become obssessed with Chinese food. She kept going to every Chinese restaurant she could find, kept cooking Chinese food and had an enviable collection of chopsticks - all in the hope that something would trigger a recall - but until now, nothing had worked. All that had happened was that she could whip an excellent Chinese meal at the drop of a hat.



Chicken in oyster sauce

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken - 500 gms, cut into cubes
Onions - 2 , cut into cubes and separate the slices
ginger and garlic, 1 tbsp each, finely minced
Bell pepper - 1.5 (I used a mix of red, yellow and green for a better look), cut into cubes
Mushrooms - 6, sliced
spring onion, for garnish
oil - 1.5 tbsp

for the marinade:

oyster sauce - 1 tbsp
soy sauce - 1 tsp
red wine vinegar or grape flavoured vinegar - 1 tbsp

for the sauce:

(these are approximate measures, since I eye -balled these)

oyster sauce - 3 tbsps
soy sauce - 1 tbsp
red wine vinegar - 1 tbsp
brown sugar - 1 tsp
red chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp (or as per your spice tolerance level)
cornflour - 1 tsp, dissolved in a little water

Method:

Whisk the marinade together and add to the chicken. Let the chicken marinate for about half an hour.
Heat oil and stir fry the ginger, garlic and half the onion on high flame for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken and cook till done. Set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, mix the ingredients for the sauce together.

In the same pan, add a little bit of oil and stir fry the mushrooms, followed by the remaining onions and the bell peppers. Cook for a minute - you want the onions and the peppers to retain their crunch. Add the cooked chicken and stir for a half a minute. Make a well in the middle of the pan and add the sauce. Cook till sauce starts to bubble and thickens. Since all the sauces contain salt, taste at this point and then add salt, if needed. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot with rice.

Red - the end (continued from part 1 and part 2)

The abortion was scheduled a week hence. It was an agonising time for Arva. The visions kept recurring, yet she felt unable to share it with Raghav. Though he was extremely caring, Arva knew he was actually very unhappy with her decision and this was causing a considerable strain in their relations.

For just a few moments, she was actually tempted to go ahead with the pregnancy, just for his sake. But those were fleeting thoughts and here she was now in the OT. Arva looked around her as the doctors and nurses buzzed about in the procedure room, their movements so well co-ordinated and seamless. "This is it," she thought. "There's is no going back now..." Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud clanging noise - one of the instrument trays had fallen to the floor.

And then it came back to her. The memory came gushing out as if someone had opened the floodgates.

They were at a Chinese restaurant. Arva, all of 8 at that time, had encountered chopsticks for the first time and was absolutely intrigued at the prospect of eating with them. Her excitement was, however, somewhat dampened though by her normally gregarious older sister who appeared extremely anxious about something. "Here didi, from me to you, with love. The pretty waitress in red let me keep these," she said to her sister, handing her the chopsticks, hoping to humour her.

That night, she was woken up by the sound of muffled sobs. Curiously, she walked to the source of the sound - the bathroom. Curiosity quickly turned to horror when she saw her sister in the bathtub, curled up in pain, her pyjamas completely stained in blood, the bloody chopstick in her hand clanging as it fell to the floor. "Mama," Arva had screamed.

Lying here in the hospital, as the long suppressed memory returned and the horror of her sister's actions and the reason for all those visions now became clear to her, Arva saw the doctor moving in to start the procedure.

One year later....

She was returning to her desk after a year. So much had happened in the last one year, so much that she had to share with her colleagues. "My my, look at you Arva! You are looking absolutely gorgeous. Who would say that you had a baby just few months ago,"gushed Divya.

The end.