[Recipe] Kashmiri Chicken
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:56 pm
Reprinted (legally) from my own memory, and (illegally) from my primary Indian cookbook, "The Food of India", from which pages 289 and 290 are missing, so if anyone has 'em and can photocopy them for me, I'd sure appreciate it.
Kashmiri Chicken, AKA the greatest thing you have ever eaten in your entire lifetime:
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3 lb chicken, skinned and boned, cut into bite-sized pieces.
Seeds of 6 cardamom pods.
1 onion, finely chopped.
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 inch piece ginger, finely chopped.
1/2 cup chicken stock.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds.
1/2 tsp coriander seeds.
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns.
1/4 tsp whole cloves.
1-2 inch stick cinnamon.
2/3 cup blanched almonds (whatever the hell that is)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup [plain] yogurt
1/4 tsp saffron threads
1. Dry roast cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in a dry pan over low heat until aromatic.
2. Grind cumin, coriander, cardamon, cinnamon, and pepper in your choice of grinding implement.
3. In large pot, fry onions in a couple tbsp of veg oil (NOT olive oil) until golden.
4. Add chicken, garlic, and ginger to pot, fry for five minutes.
5. Add chicken stock and ground spices, stir, cover, simmer for 30 minutes, covered.
6. Meanwhile, in a processor/blender/whatever you want, finely chop the pistachios and almonds.
7. After the 30 minutes in step 5, mix nuts with yogurt, remove cover from pot, and add to pot.
8. Mix saffron with 1 tsp very hot water, allow to steep for 30 seconds, then add to pot.
9. Stir everything up, and simmer/boil until sauce becomes rich 'n' creamy.
10. Salt to taste, serve with rice, and whatever you want.
Now, BEN'S GUIDE TO BUYING SPICES 'N' SHIT.
Most major supermarkets will sell all the spices mentioned above, if not in their whole forms, then at least in their pre-ground forms. Now, when you don't grind 'em yourself, you will never get the depth and sharpness of flavor from any of your spices, but in a pinch, you can use 'em and probably nobody will be the wiser. Fine. That being said, NEVER BUY SPICES FROM A SUPERMARKET IN ANY FORM, if you can possibly avoid it. If you can't avoid it, look first in the "Mexican/Oriental/Random Racial Slur" aisle first. Why? Because at your local "specialty" grocery store, the spices will normally be at MOST 1/4 of the price you're paying at Safeway/Kroger/Vons/etc. Many times it will be 1/10 of the price, and probably fresher.
Now, if your specialty grocer is anything like mine, you will never KNOW what the actual price of anything is, because nothing has price tags on it, and the shelves on which the items sit have no price tags either. But fill up that hand-cart with abandon, because no matter what Habib there rings up on the register, it's going to be a hell of a lot better than what the other Habib at the big store rings up.
SPECIAL NOTE ON BUYING SAFFRON: I'll admit it, I'm just wild about saffron. In my experience, there's no way to avoid paying at least $6 for a teeny package of saffron, surely the most coveted, expensive of spices. However, as above, the $6 saffron you get from the specialty store will contain at least 4 times as much as the fancy glass bottle in the spice aisle at the supermarket. And again, likely fresher and of better quality. "Is it really worth it?" you ask. Well, make the above recipe and let me know. Here's a hint: Yes.
Kashmiri Chicken, AKA the greatest thing you have ever eaten in your entire lifetime:
-------------------------------------------------
3 lb chicken, skinned and boned, cut into bite-sized pieces.
Seeds of 6 cardamom pods.
1 onion, finely chopped.
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 inch piece ginger, finely chopped.
1/2 cup chicken stock.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds.
1/2 tsp coriander seeds.
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns.
1/4 tsp whole cloves.
1-2 inch stick cinnamon.
2/3 cup blanched almonds (whatever the hell that is)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup [plain] yogurt
1/4 tsp saffron threads
1. Dry roast cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in a dry pan over low heat until aromatic.
2. Grind cumin, coriander, cardamon, cinnamon, and pepper in your choice of grinding implement.
3. In large pot, fry onions in a couple tbsp of veg oil (NOT olive oil) until golden.
4. Add chicken, garlic, and ginger to pot, fry for five minutes.
5. Add chicken stock and ground spices, stir, cover, simmer for 30 minutes, covered.
6. Meanwhile, in a processor/blender/whatever you want, finely chop the pistachios and almonds.
7. After the 30 minutes in step 5, mix nuts with yogurt, remove cover from pot, and add to pot.
8. Mix saffron with 1 tsp very hot water, allow to steep for 30 seconds, then add to pot.
9. Stir everything up, and simmer/boil until sauce becomes rich 'n' creamy.
10. Salt to taste, serve with rice, and whatever you want.
Now, BEN'S GUIDE TO BUYING SPICES 'N' SHIT.
Most major supermarkets will sell all the spices mentioned above, if not in their whole forms, then at least in their pre-ground forms. Now, when you don't grind 'em yourself, you will never get the depth and sharpness of flavor from any of your spices, but in a pinch, you can use 'em and probably nobody will be the wiser. Fine. That being said, NEVER BUY SPICES FROM A SUPERMARKET IN ANY FORM, if you can possibly avoid it. If you can't avoid it, look first in the "Mexican/Oriental/Random Racial Slur" aisle first. Why? Because at your local "specialty" grocery store, the spices will normally be at MOST 1/4 of the price you're paying at Safeway/Kroger/Vons/etc. Many times it will be 1/10 of the price, and probably fresher.
Now, if your specialty grocer is anything like mine, you will never KNOW what the actual price of anything is, because nothing has price tags on it, and the shelves on which the items sit have no price tags either. But fill up that hand-cart with abandon, because no matter what Habib there rings up on the register, it's going to be a hell of a lot better than what the other Habib at the big store rings up.
SPECIAL NOTE ON BUYING SAFFRON: I'll admit it, I'm just wild about saffron. In my experience, there's no way to avoid paying at least $6 for a teeny package of saffron, surely the most coveted, expensive of spices. However, as above, the $6 saffron you get from the specialty store will contain at least 4 times as much as the fancy glass bottle in the spice aisle at the supermarket. And again, likely fresher and of better quality. "Is it really worth it?" you ask. Well, make the above recipe and let me know. Here's a hint: Yes.