Indian Recipes

Moghul Shredded Chicken Curry

Aug 31, 2004

To make the chicken broth for the scripelle, Enrico had boiled two chicken thighs. Which meant I had lots of cooked chicken, plus leftover white rice from several previous meals (I always manage to overestimate how much rice everyone will eat).   So Saturday night I made Moghul Shredded Chicken Curry, from Royal Indian Cookery. The recipe calls for steamed chicken breasts, but boiled thighs worked just as well. I pulled all the meat off the bones and shredded it, then:  

• fry 1 tbps cumin seeds in ghee or oil for 1 min  
• add one chopped onion, cook til soft  
• grind into paste 2 cloves garlic and a 1-inch cube of fresh ginger (actually, I used the food processor to chop very fine, not quite the same as paste...)  
• add to the pot with cayenne pepper and 1 tsp turmeric  
• in a separate pan, fry a finely chopped small onion in oil til brown  
• food-process this, along with 1 cup cashews, 1/4 cup blanched almonds, 2/3 cups dried coconut, into a fine-ish crumble  
• add to main pot, stir for a few minutes, add about 1/3 cup water, cook low for 5 minutes
• add 1/4 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup raisins (previously soaked in water to soften), and salt, cook some more  
• add chicken, cook another 10 minutes or so  

The recipe calls for a garnish and a final two tbsps of cream, but I didn't bother - with the yogurt, it was plenty creamy.   Along with this we had the leftover rice (I bought a microwave this year mostly to heat pasta and rice in) and a simple dish of green beans and peas (clearing odds and ends from the freezer!) with coriander, another Madhur Jaffrey recipe. And lots of chutneys.