Mughlai Chicken Korma

Moghul or Mughlai cuisine is the most popular cuisine of the Indian subcontinent and the recipes are considered to be the jewel among traditional Indian recipes. This cuisine, which is famous for its use of exotic spices, evolved in the imperial kitchens of the Moguls, who were renowned for their style and splendour. The cuisine has a strong Persian and Turkish influence, and ranges from mild to rather spicy, cooked with fresh ground and whole spices as well as often being creamy and rich with milk products like cream, yoghurt or dahi, a cultured sour milk. Mughlai cuisine represents the cooking style of much of northern India and Pakistan.

Korma refers to the cooking method - braising - and not to a particular set of ingredients as is commonly thought, but is usually a mild creamy curry fragrant with cardamom, saffron and the rose water favoured by the Persians.

This curry is a rich yellow from the most expensive spice in the world - saffron (don't be tempted to use turmeric, it will not give the same colour or flavour) - it's creamy with yoghurt and cream thickened with ground almonds and peppered with poppy seeds.

Ingredients:
30ml white poppy seeds
30ml rose water
a loose pinch of saffron threads
3-4 inches root ginger, roughly chopped
8-10 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
40-50ml water
1 inch cinnamon stick
10 green cardamom pods, seeds only
10ml coriander seeds
2ml grated nutmeg
5ml salt
250g full fat yoghurt
700g chicken, skinned and removed from the bones cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2-3 large onions, roughly chopped
50g ghee or clarified butter
50g ground almonds
2ml white pepper
40-50ml water
3 long thin green chillies, halved lengthways
75-100ml double cream

Method:

Heat a dry, heavy based frying pan over a medium heat, add the poppy seeds and shake them around a few seconds until they darken slightly and give off a nutty aroma. tip into a spice grinder and leave to cool. When cool enough, grind them into a fine powder and set aside in a small bowl.

Warm the rose water, add the saffron threads and set aside to soak.

Put the ginger and garlic in a mini blender with 40-50 ml water and blend to a smooth paste.

Heat a small heavy-based pan over a low heat and add the cinnamon, cardamom seeds, and coriander seeds, shake them around a about 30 seconds until the darken and give off an aromatic aroma. Tip them into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Put the garlic and ginger paste, ground spices, nutmeg, yoghurt and salt into a bowl and mix together. Add the chicken and blend into the mixture, ensuring that all the chicken is covered. Leave to marinate for about 30 minutes, but not longer than an hour. Leaving it for longer can make the meat too soft and mushy.

Meanwhile, put the onion in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Heat the ghee in a large, heavy-based pan and add the onion. Fry gently over a low-medium heat until the onion just starts to brown. Add the chicken and all the marinade, the ground almonds, white pepper and about 50ml water. Gently blend everything together and bring to a gentle simmer. cover with the lid not quite in place so as to allow a little steam to escape and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Remove the lid from the pot, add the chillies, ground poppy seeds and saffron water and simmer, uncovered for a further 5 minutes. At this stage the sauce should be quite thick. Add the cream and simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring gently and your delicious curry is ready to serve.

Serve with boiled basmati rice, papadums and cucumber sambal.