Afghani Chicken

Afghani Chicken 

The name of this dish is ‘Afghani Chicken’ but this recipe comes to you from a very authentic Parsee recipe book. Maybe some Parsee ancestors decided to settle in that part of the world for a while, when we were forced to flee Persia during the persecution and happened to pick up this gem from that region. Then again, maybe it was just a weird Bawa feeling the urge to name it so. These are the only (in)sane reasons that comes to mind for a Parsee naming the dish so. Well, food knows no religion or language. What matters is how it tastes, so regardless of whether it is India, Persia/Iran or Afghanistan, I vouch that this one tastes awesome. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 kilo chicken

4 onions, sliced

4” piece ginger

1 whole pod garlic

½ teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi powder

1 bunch coriander leaves

2 green chilies, slit

¼ kilo curds, beaten smooth

A few strands saffron

2 potatoes, peeled, quartered and fried

125 grams ghee/clarified butter

2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Salt, to taste

Grind to paste:

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

10 peppercorns

7 white cardamoms

8” cinnamon

7 cloves

2 green cardamoms

1 tablespoon cumin

30 grams dry coconut

½ tablespoon charoli/chironji

4 dry red Kashmiri chilies

Method:

1. Clean and wash the chicken and cut into the required number of pieces.
2. Grind the ginger-garlic together to a paste.
3. Fry onions in ghee until golden brown and keep some aside for garnishing.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste to the onions in the ghee and fry well for a minute.
5. Add turmeric powder, green chilies and fry well for a few seconds.
6. Add the ground paste and fry well till ghee separates. Add coriander leaves and fry for a few more seconds.
7. Add chicken pieces, salt and mix well. Add water and cook till chicken is nearly done. Blend in curds.
8. Mix saffron with a little warm water and let it steep for a while, then add to the chicken.
9. Simmer the gravy till thickened to desired consistency.
10. Garnished with fried potatoes, hard boiled eggs and fried onions. Serve with parathas or tandoori naans. 

Chef Notes: 

1. If you reside in a country where they have strict restrictions in regard to the use of poppy seeds, feel free to substitute them with cashew nuts. 
2. The potatoes were to be quartered and fried but I prefer them as chips or wedges hence opted to cut them as accordingly. 
3. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.