Roast Chicken with Almonds

September 24, 2013

Badami murgh is a whole chicken rubbed with ground spices and oven-roasted with yoghurt and saffron. Cloves, cardamom, coriander and cumin penetrate the meat, while the yoghurt keeps it juicy and forms a lightly sour sauce. Toasted almonds and raisins are scattered over at serving.

The dish comes from the North Indian Mughal court kitchen, where nuts and dried fruit were a sign of prosperity. It is served as celebration food with boiled rice.

Take your time frying the onions slowly until golden and pounding the spices thoroughly in a mortar. Those two steps carry the flavour. The chicken spends an hour and a half in the oven and is basted throughout, so the skin turns dark and glazed from the yoghurt.

Ingredients

Serves 4–6

2 tbsp oil
75 g ghee (or 1½ tbsp sunflower oil)
3 onions, chopped
saffron, a little, ground
3 dl plain yoghurt
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 cloves
6 cardamom pods
1 chicken, 1.5 kg
125 g almonds, blanched and chopped
50 g raisins
salt
black pepper, freshly ground

Directions

Heat the oil and three-quarters of the ghee in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and fry until golden, stirring regularly, 10–15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir the saffron into the yoghurt and combine it with the fried onions. Leave the mixture to cool.

Put the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom pods, salt and pepper in a mortar and pound everything to a coarse spice powder.

Rub the chicken all over with the spice mixture, including inside the cavity. Place it breast-side up in an ovenproof dish.

Roast the chicken in a preheated oven at 375°F (190°C) for about 1½ hours until the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh.

After 20 minutes, spoon the yoghurt mixture over the chicken. Continue basting the chicken with the roasting juices every 15–20 minutes for the rest of the cooking time.

Heat the remaining ghee in a frying pan and toast the chopped almonds to a golden brown, stirring. Add the raisins, stir through and remove from the heat.

Leave the chicken to rest for 10 minutes after the oven. Carve and arrange on a serving dish. Scatter the almonds and raisins over and serve with boiled rice.

Notes

Active time about 20 minutes, roasting time 1½ hours at 375°F (190°C).

The chicken can also be jointed before roasting, in which case the cooking time reduces to about 1 hour. Continue basting with the yoghurt mixture throughout.

Saffron can be left out, but the sauce will lose its characteristic colour and aroma. Do not use turmeric as a substitute — it gives a completely different flavour.