Zaffrani Chicken

Recently I started reading about the traditional mughlai cuisine is some of the books written my Salma Hussain who is a food historian and also consults with the ITC hotel. Its amazing to see what we call mughlai today is very different to what actually is mughlai food during the time of the Mughal emperors. The books written by her are translations and improvisations from Persian text from that period -  Alwan-e-Nemat, Akbarnama, Ain-i-Akbari and Alwan-e-Nemat, to name a few. Reading the recipes the ingredients and the method it clearly reflects the Persian heritage – mildly spiced, use of berries in food, a dash of sugar sometimes. It’s not until the time of Shah Jahan did they start experimenting with more spices. According to Ms Hussain, shortly after he shifted his capital from Agra to Shahjahanabad, he was informed that the drinking water in the new city was making his subjects sick. That’s when the king ordered that food be cooked with more haldi, red chillies, cumin and coriander, for their medicinal properties. Truly every cuisine has evolved imbibing ingredients and flavours from new settlements.

 

This chicken dish is an inspiration of mild spices and cream which is my rendition of what you may find on the emperor’s table. I have used oil in my cooking however you may choose to only use ghee.

Ingredients

8 chicken drumsticks

Khara Masala

5 green cardamoms
2 black cardamoms
10 pieces of cloves
4 inch stick of cinnamon

2 ½ cups finely sliced onions

5-6 tbsp vegetable cooking oil (you could replace this with ghee as well if you prefer)
1 tbsp ghee
½ tsp garam masala
1½ tbsp. dhania (coriander seed) powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1½  tbsp garlic crushed coarsely
100 ml Cream (whipped lightly)
½ cup Milk
Salt to taste
 

Method

 

·         In a pressure cooker, pour 5-6 tbsp of vegetable oil and heat it. Add the khara masala and let it crackle. Add the sliced onions and sauté it till it turns light to dark brown. Do this on a low flame to ensure you don’t burn the onions. Now add garlic and sauté it a little say about another minute.

 

The Khara Masala Crackling

 

·         No add the chicken legs and ghee to the pressure cooker and cook for about 5-7 minutes, tossing the contents occasionally so that the masala does not stick to the bottom of the vessel.

·         In a bowl mix the cream, milk, red chilli powder and dhania powder and continue and stir the mixture.  Add this mixture to the chicken and continuously stir, till all contents have mixed well. Add garam masala. Let this cook on a slow flame till the contents bubble.

The chicken just before adding the saffron, bubbling away..

  

·         Add saffron and salt to taste and cover the pressure cooker and put the whistle. Let it cook on high flame till you hear about 5-6 whistles and then close the flame. Don’t open the contents immediately. Wait for about 5 minutes before you open the vessel. You could also choose to cook this in an open vessel over a slow flame.

 

Serve with any Indian bread (roti, paratha or naan) or steamed rice and onion rings.