Mogul Chicken Recipes

MURGH MAKHANI - MOGHUL BUTTER CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place the chicken in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, salt, chilli powder and lemon juice. Mix, cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Mix together the yoghurt, garam masala, turmeric and cumin and add to the chicken, making sure that each piece is well coated with the mixture. Cover again and chill for 3-4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Put the marinated chicken pieces on a grill rack set on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes. Brush the chicken pieces with a little oil and turn them over. Bake for another 10-12 minutes until just cooked through.
• For the sauce, heat the ghee or butter in a pan and add the garlic and ginger. Fry for a minute or so then add the cardamom, cloves, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, fenugreek and chilli powder. Stir well and fry for 1-2 minutes until they give off a lovely aroma.
• Stir in the tomato puree and lemon juice and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the chicken pieces to the sauce and stir well to coat. Finally, add the butter and cream and stir continuously until the butter has melted and the sauce is smooth.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer to a warm bowl and serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander.

SPICY MOGUL CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, yoghurt and all the spices together until smooth. Place boned chicken thighs in a dish. Pour over the marinade, turn the chicken over to make sure that it is coated all over, cover and leave in the fridge overnight, if possible.
• Heat the oil in a skillet or frying pan, take meat from marinade (reserve marinade) and seal both sides.
• Add all the marinade, and simmer slowly for about 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally - to begin with the marinade looks watery and not that great! After a while it slowly thickens (as the meat cooks) into thick gravy that is spooned over the top of the chicken when served.
• Serve with salads, spiced rice or my Gujarati Potatoes.Recipe #176179.
• N.B If less heat is required, cut down on the chili powder to 1/4 teaspoon.

MOGUL CHICKEN

Steps:

• Prick the chicken thighs with a fork. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside.
• In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, ginger, garlic, red pepper, salt, sugar, and honey.
• Combine the thighs and spice mixture in a plastic zip bag (or a bowl with cover) and marinate in the refrigerator for an hour.
• Set grill to medium (or fire up the broiler). Add the cilantro and green chili to the chicken, mix, and transfer to a flameproof dish.
• Pour any remaining marinade over the chicken.
• Grill (or broil) for about 15-20 minutes, turning and basting the chicken occasionally, until cooked through (the whole juices-run-clear thing).
• Serve immediately. A garnish of fresh cilantro would be nice.

INDIAN MOGHUL CHICKEN BIRYANI

Steps:

• First you have to make the marinade for the chicken.
• Peel and coarsely chop 3 of the onions.
• Place the chopped onion, garlic, and ginger in an electric blender, along with the cloves, peppercorns, the seeds only from the 8 cardamoms, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, poppy seeds, mace, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and the lemon juice. Blend all of these at high speed until you have a smooth paste. Place this paste in a large bowl. Add the yogurt and mix well.
• Now peel the 3 remaining onions. Slice them into very fine rings, and halve all the rings.
• In a 10 inch heavy bottomed skillet, heat the oil over medium flame. When hot, add the bay leaves and 4 black cardamoms. Fry for about 10 to 15 seconds. Now put in the onions and fry them, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until they get brown and crisp (but not burned). Remove them carefully with a slotted spoon, squeezing out as much of the oil as possible. Reserve all the onion flavored oil, the black cardamoms, and the bay leaves. You will need them later. Mix in 2/3 of the fried onions with the marinade paste. Place the rest on a paper towel to drain. Set aside for garnishing.
• Remove skin from the chicken legs and breasts. Cut the legs into two pieces each (drumstick and thigh), and quarter all the breasts. Pierce the chicken pieces with a fork and place in the bowl with the marinade paste. Mix well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Turn occasionally.
• After 2 hours (or more), remove the bowl from the refrigerator and place all its contents in a 3 to 4 quart heavy bottomed pot. Bring slowly to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove only the chicken pieces, place them in a 5 quart casserole dish, and cover. Set aside. On a medium flame, boil down the marinade paste, stirring, until you have about 9 to 10 tablespoons left. Spoon the paste over the chicken. Cover again.
• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Soak the saffron in 2 tablespoons hot (not boiling) milk.
• Bring about 13 cups of water with 3 teaspoons of salt to a boil in a 4 quart pot, then add the rice. After it has come to a boil again, cook 5 minutes, timing very carefully (the rice must not cook through). DRAIN the rice in a colander, then place it on top of the chicken in the casserole. Pour the saffron milk over the rice, streaking it with orange lines. Spoon out the onion flavored oil from the pan, RESERVING a level tablespoon to fry the raisins if you like. Sprinkle the oil, cardamom, and bay leaves over the rice. Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil, cut 2 inches wider than the rim of the dish. Now put the lid on and use the protruding foil edges to seal the dish as best you can by crinkling it and pushing it against the sides. Bake 1 hour.
• GARNISHES: There are several garnishes that can be used for biryani; you can use them all, or only what you like, but the fried onions are a must. If you wish to use raisins, you can fry them in a tablespoon of the onion flavored oil just after you have fried the onions.
• TO SERVE: As you lift the cover off your casserole dish you will see beautiful saffron streaks on the white rice. Spoon the rice and chicken out onto a large platter. Sprinkle fried onions and other garnishes of your choice over, and serve hot. With biryani, serve Koftas and some yogurt dish-Yogurt with Tiny dumplings, or Yogurt with Potatoes. If you wish to serve a vegetable, Cauliflower with Ginger and Chinese Parsley would be very good. Serves 6-8.
• Biryani is quite definitely not an everyday dish. It is served at weddings and important dinners. Try serving it at a late supper party. It was, and is, a dish worthy of a king.
• NOTE: This very expensive stigma of the crocus flower is used in Moghlai meat and rice dishes as well as in desserts. Ideally, saffron stigmas or "leaf" saffron should be lightly roasted in a hot skillet, crumbled, and allowed to soak in a tablespoon or so of warm milk for half an hour before being used.
• Madhur Jaffrey An Invitations to Indian Cooking.