Chicken Dinner Dishes - One of My New Favorites!

Well this is now one of my new favorite chicken dinner recipes.... Drum roll please! 

Nigella Lawson's Chicken Muglai.

I was looking for recipes that contained ground almonds to use up the packet I bought to make the Spanish Orange and Almond Cake (my 2012 promise to myself is to use up ingredients and not let food go off) and came across this recipe. Of course I wanted to try it straight away and as Jack (the small boy i keep talking about a.k.a my son) loves curries and stews and anything with a sauce I thought it would be a great one to try out. 

So got my ingredients together and set about to make dinner!

Oh and just wanted to add this recipe was surprisingly quick and easy! Thumbs up as any mammy knows with a small child these two things are important when getting dinner ready!

This recipe serves 8 - Takes 30 mins to prep and 20 mins to cook.

You will need:

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled 

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
• 4 tablespoons ground almonds
• 1/2 cup water
• 5 cardamom pods, bruised
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cloves
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 pounds boned chicken thighs, each cut into 2 
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sultanas (golden raisins)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup flaked almonds, toasted, to garnish

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• Method:
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• Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili into a food prossesor, or into a mortar and pestle, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water and then blend again, set aside.
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Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.

Add the spices and turn them in the oil. Add the onions and cook them until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid sticking.

 Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to colour.

 Add the yogurt, half a cup at a time stirring it in to make a sauce, then stir in the stock, cream, and sultanas.

Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar, and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the meat is cooked through.

My mum used to do this trick! Can't find
 the right lid just use a plate ha!

It's at this stage, that I like to take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool before reheating the next day.

So either now, or when you've reheated it, pour into a serving dish and scatter with the toasted flaked almonds.

I made a few small changes to this. I used diced chicken breast and I added a small bit of cornflour at the end to thicken it up a bit!

This dish was sooo good! Served with a bit of rice and your ready to go!

Definately one to try,

Love Ems.x