Mughlai Chicken (Kid friendly)

A Mughlai dish of Muslim North Indian origin, this will be a sure-fire hit with your family. The almonds and thick yoghurt combined with the aromatic spices make this a truly irresistible meal. I replaced the red chilli powder you'd normally use with a mild paprika which gives it a nice orangey red hue without any of the mouth-burn which tends to put kids off. 

Although this is inspired by Mughlai recipes, my two boys came up the the ingredients themselves (with a little help from me!). They also took most of the photos. So, cheers, lads!

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3.90 zl (93 Euro cents, 78 British pence)

What you need:

- 500g chicken breast cut up fine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 2 green cardamon pods
- 1 clove
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 small blade of mace
- 1 tsp black cumin seeds
- 2 onions (finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp almond flakes
- 1 inch ginger (minced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp cream
- handful of kasouri methi (dried fenugreek leaves - optional)

It's not as complicated as it looks so stay with me!

1. Marinade the chicken with yoghurt, turmeric, salt and pepper overnight. This makes the chicken nice and tender - it's going to melt in your mouth later!

2. Cook the chicken on a high heat in a little oil to seal. In a wok works well. Give it some wrist!

Should take around 5 minutes max for it to get to this stage:

3. Chicken out and leave to one side. Prep the onions. Slice finely then dice across.

4. Prep the ginger - slice off the skin

5. Prep the garlic - bash under your knife and remove the skin

6. Make a ginger-garlic paste by mincing both on a fine grater.

Onions and ginger-garlic paste prepped!

7. Prep the whole spices

8. Prep the powdered spices. Now it's all prepped, we're ready to rock!

9. Oil in the wok. Heat medium high. Whole spices in. 1-2 minutes till they start to brown.

10. Onions in. Sprinkle in a little salt to cook down the onions quicker.

11. After around 5 minutes, almonds in

12. Another 5 minutes and the onions are almost there (golden brown). Ginger-garlic paste in.

13. Turmeric in

14. Tomatoes. Give it 5 minutes

15. Now it looks like this. Blend up nice and fine in a blender (what else?)

16. Transfer back to the wok. Wash out the rest of the mix from the blender with some water - we don't want to waste anything! Add the rest of the powdered spices.

17. Get the brown sugar in. Cook down for around 5 minutes - this allows the spices to develop properly.

18. Add the chicken back in along with the cream. Cook for another minute. 

19. Add some kasouri methi if you fancy

20. Serve with rice!

Just to prove the kids liked it:

What this cost (serves 4):

- chicken: 9 zl

- tomatoes: 2 zl

- rice 1.60 zl

- the rest: 3 zl

Total: 15.60 zl

Per person: 3.90 zl