Royal Chicken Cooked In Yoghurt : IHCC

"Everything's Better with Yoghurt", is our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where we are cooking from Madhur Jaffrey's recipes. There are so many recipes that I've wanted to try with yoghurt, I could not make up my mind between a fruity yoghurt, a lassi drink, raita, a vegetable or a meat dish! So when my sister came for a night's stay, I finally decided to cook this dish "Royal Chicken Cooked In Yoghurt" for our dinner, along with the Turmeric Rice, and one of MJ's stir-fried cabbage dish. 

This is a delicious dish. Once again, I'm using almonds for the second time in MJ's dish. The recipe calls for slivered almonds, I used the flaked ones instead, just because I took the wrong container. Sultanas are used here, which I doubled the amount, as I love sultanas in dishes and pilaf as well. The interesting thing is, when the sultanas are dropped into the hot oil, in a matter of seconds, they ballooned up like cute little champagne grapes, amazing! And of course, I increased the spices and chilli powder slightly. At first I was afraid that this dish might be too sour with 1 whole cup of yoghurt, but it provides just the right amount of sourness and it was good!  I used my own homemade yoghurt, which I constantly replenish with a new batch, I'm almost never short of yoghurt in my fridge.

Homemade yoghurt

A lovely dish that goes great with the Turmeric Rice. We really like the sultanas, the next time, I'll add a little bit more!  Does it make me feel like "Royalty" when eating this dish? Haha, only if someone cook it for me, and serve me, royalty style, maybe!

To see my friends at IHCC yoghurt dish, you may visit them here. If you would like to join us in our cooking journey with Madhur Jaffrey, you may get the full details at IHCC's Welcome! page.

I'm sharing this with :

Recipe Box hosted by Bizzy Bakes

See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace

Royal Chicken Cooked In Yoghurt
(source from : My Kitchen Table, Madhur Jaffrey)
250ml (1 cup) natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin (I use 1-1/2 tsp)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste (I use 1 tsp)
4 tablespoons finely chopped green coriander
1.5kg (3lb) chicken, cut into serving portions
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 cardamom pods
6 cloves
5cm (2in) cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2-1/2 teaspoons blanched, silvered almonds
2-1/2 tablespoons sultanas (I use about 5 tablespoons)

Step One :

Put the natural yoghurt into a bowl and beat it lightly until it is smooth and creamy. Add half the salt, some black pepper, the ground cumin, ground coriander, chilli powder and green coriander. Mix and set aside.

Step Two :

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces on both sides using the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Put the oil in a wide, preferably non-stick pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Stir once and add some of the chicken pieces - only as many as the pan will hold easily in a single layer. Brown on both sides and remove to a large bowl. Brown all the chicken pieces in this way and remove to the bowl.

Step Three :

Put the almonds and sultanas into the same hot oil. Stir quickly. The almonds should turn golden and the sultanas should pump up - which will happen very fast. Now return the chicken and its accumulated juices to the pan. Add the seasoned natural yoghurt. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice during this period. Remove the cover, turn the heat up a bit and reduce the sauce until it is thick and just clings to the the chicken pieces. Turn the chicken pieces over gently as you do this.

The large, whole spices are not meant to be eaten.