Mughlai Chicken Nigella Lawson Food

MUGHLAI CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients for the marinade together then add the chicken. Mix well then cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes but up to 24 hours.
• To make the sauce, soak the almonds in the boiling water for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth, adding more water if necessary.
• Melt the butter in a large pot set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant.
• Add the spices and sugar and cook for another minute.
• Add the marinated chicken and cook until the chicken is starting to brown and the bottom of the pot becomes sticky. Pour in the chicken stock, cream and almond paste.
• Reduce the heat, partially cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through.
• Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Serve with your choice of side dishes.

MUGHLAI CHICKEN - NIGELLA LAWSON

Steps:

• Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili into a food processor, or into a mortar and pestle, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water and then blend again, set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.
• Add the spices and turn them in the oil. Add the onions and cook them until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid sticking. Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to colour. Add the yogurt, half a cup at a time stirring it in to make a sauce, then stir in the stock, cream, and sultanas.
• Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar, and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the meat is cooked through.
• It's at this stage, that I like to take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool before reheating the next day.
• So either now, or when you've reheated it, pour into a serving dish and scatter with the toasted flaked almonds.

MUGHLAI CHICKEN

Steps:

• Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili into a food processor, or into a mortar and pestle, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water and then blend again, set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.
• Add the spices and turn them in the oil. Add the onions and cook them until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid sticking. Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to colour. Add the yogurt, half a cup at a time stirring it in to make a sauce, then stir in the stock, cream, and sultanas.
• Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar, and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the meat is cooked through.
• It's at this stage, that I like to take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool before reheating the next day.
• So either now, or when you've reheated it, pour into a serving dish and scatter with the toasted flaked almonds.

SPATCHCOCKED BIRDS

Steps:

• Set each bird in their respective marinade in a dish into which they fit snugly, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator, preferably overnight or for 24 hours, though even a couple of hours would have an effect.
• When the grill is good and hot, lift the birds out of their marinade and cook until the flesh has lost all raw pinkness but is still tender within and the skin is crisp and burnished and blistered. It's hard to be precise about times, since grills differ even more than ovens do, but on my grill - a gas-fired Outdoor Chef, which I love to distraction and, since it has a lid, I use even in the winter rain - the chicken takes about 35 minutes, the Cornish hens 15 and the quail about 7.
• Along with sea salt, sprinkle freshly chopped parsley over the chicken and cilantro over the hens and quail, or use whatever herb seems right for the marinades you've concocted.

BUTTERMILK ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place the chicken drumsticks in a large freezer bag, and add the buttermilk and 1/4 cup of oil.
• Add the bruised garlic cloves to the bag with the crushed peppercorns and salt.
• Sprinkle in the ground cumin and finally add the maple syrup, and then squish everything in the freezer bag around to mix the marinade and coat the chicken.
• Leave the buttermilk marinated chicken in the fridge ideally overnight or out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Take the chicken pieces out of the bag shaking off the excess marinade, and then arrange them in a roasting tin lined with foil.
• Drizzle over the 2 remaining tablespoons of oil, and then roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until brown, even scorched in parts, and juicily cooked through.

CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Put all the ingredients, except the matzo balls, in a large stockpot, cover abundantly with water, and bring to a boil. Skim to remove all the gray scum that will float to the surface, then let cook at a simmer for about 3 hours. Just keep tasting: when the broth tastes golden and chickeny, it's ready. Remove the chicken and, if you like, leave the soup to get cold to you can remove any fat that collects on the surface. That way you can accrue some schmaltz, too.
• Reheat the stock, and serve it as a plain soup, or add a few carrot sticks - from about 2 carrots, say - and cook in the soup, adding some torn-up pieces of chicken to warm through at the end. I like to add freshly chopped parsley. (You can also cook the Matzo Balls in the soup as well while it's heating up again.)
• Whisk the egg in a large-ish bowl, then whisk in the melted schmaltz (or whatever). Carry on whisking as you add the water or soup stock, the matzo meal and salt and pepper, and mix together into a rough paste; if it's too stiff to feel that it might be malleable later, add a little more water. Put in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour (or leave overnight if you wish) then dip out small lumps of paste and roll them into walnut-sized balls between the palms of your hands. Cook the dumplings in boiling, salted water and simmer for about 40 minutes (you can just cook them directly in the soup, but I'll do anything to preserve its unstarchy clearness). They are cooked when they rise to the surface. Add to the soup, and ladle out generously into waiting bowls.

MAPLE CHICKEN 'N' RIBS - NIGELLA LAWSON

Steps:

• Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
• Add all the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
• Leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days.
• Take the dish out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Pour the contents of the freezer bag into 1 or 2 large roasting trays (making sure the chicken is skin side up) and place in the preheated oven and cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, by which time everything should be sticky and glossy brown.