Chicken Mughlai

Introduction: A mild and extremely flavourful dish brought to India by the Mughals, who decided to cook things in nut pastes. Goes great with boiled white rice or chapatis. This recipe is based on the book by Shehzad Husain and Rafi Fernandez that I got from Bryan a while ago. The ingredients and proportions were tweaked on-the-go during our Skype cooking session. The book claims this is a low-fat recipe, but it's too delicious to be that.

Ingredients:
Chicken, boneless, diced - 400 g
Onions, quartered - 2 medium
Tomato purée - 2 tbsp (or use two tomatoes and some juice from a can)
Cashews, unsalted - 125 g (about 1 cup?)
Garam masala - 1.5 tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp (or spicier, if you like)
Lemon juice - 1/8 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp
Yogurt, plain, low-fat - 125 g (about 1/2 cup?)
Vegetable oil (ghee, if available, but then the dish won't be low-fat) - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves, chopped - 5-6 strands
Sultanas (golden raisins) - a generous handful
Button mushrooms, quartered - 2-2.5 cups

Cooking time: 30-45 min
Servings: 4-5

Method:
Making the cashew nut paste:
Place the onions in a blender with half a cup of water and blend well. Add the tomato purée or paste and blend. Add the garam masala, ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, lemon juice, turmeric, salt and yogurt and blend. Slowly add the cashews and blend into a slightly coarse paste, adding water *in small amounts* if necessary. NOTE: You may want to pour out/reserve half of the blended paste to make room for the cashews. You can then slowly add the reserved portion to make the paste -- this way you can control the amount of water added.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the paste for a few minutes on medium heat, stirring continuously to make sure it doesn't burn (a tiny bit of burnt cashew paste is OK -- gives it a rich golden brown look). Reserve 1 tbsp of coriander leaves for garnish, and add the rest to the paste. Add the raisins and chicken and cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the mushrooms and pour slightly more than a cup of water (or enough to cover the mushrooms at least partially) and mix well. Cook covered on a low flame for 10 min. Cook longer if the chicken isn't cooked through or the sauce isn't thick enough. Garnish with the reserved coriander leaves and serve hot.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan
Source: "Indian: Deliciously Authentic Dishes" by Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez

Baghaara Bhaat (Fried Rice)

Ingredients:
Basmati (I used regular) rice, soaked for 30 min and drained - 2 cups
Cardamom seeds - 6 (or 1 tsp cardamom powder)
Cloves - 6
Cinnamon - 2" piece
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Green chillies, slit lengthwise - 4
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 6
Coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tb
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tb
Ghee or vegetable oil - 3 tb
Salt - to taste

Time (cook+prep): 20-25 min
Servings: 4-5

Method:
Heat oil in a wok and fry the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Add the ginger-garlic paste, curry leaves, mint leaves and green chillies. Fry for a couple of minutes and add 2 cups of water and salt. Add the rice when the water starts to boil. Mix well on a high flame until half cooked, then reduce the flame and cook covered until done, stirring once towards the end to avoid burning the bottom. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan