Badami Chicken with Naan

One of my favorite chicken recipes is Almond Chicken. My mother-in-law gave me the recipe for this on a photocopied page that looks terrible and I could never figure out what book it came from. I have it safely tucked into a plastic cover so I don't mess it up further.

I have adapted it somewhat because 10 chilis are just not in the cards for me. I always have garlic-ginger paste in the fridge because it is the base for so many Parsi recipes (which my family adores) and I also have nuts and spices in the cupboard always for the same reason.

You may want to consider a spice and nut grinder like the one in the photo below for your future culinary pursuits. I used it for this recipe:

Ingredients:

4-5 chicken breasts cubed, about 2 pounds
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups of yogurt (unsweetened, full fat)


6 tablespoons oil
4 finely chopped onions (red or white) or Vagar (pre-prepared fried onions)
2 teaspoons garam masala, made from scratch if you prefer
2-3 tablespoons garlic-ginger paste
10 red chillis (I do NOT use that many, I might use 1)
Salt to taste

1 can coconut milk

50 G cashew nuts
50 G almonds
Few grams shredded coconut

Place the turmeric in the yogurt, cut chicken into pieces and marinate for 1 hour.  Heat oil and fry onions until they are golden. Remove the onions from the pan and add the ginger-garlic paste, chili, and spices. Brown well. Then add back the onions and now the chicken, cook for some time.

I feel that it is best to transfer the dish of ingredients to an ovenproof casserole dish rather than leaving it on the stovetop given that yogurt has a tendency to burn on the bottom of the pot. Therefore, placing the amalgamated ingredients in the oven helps prevent the burn and accompanying bitter taste. Don't add all the marinade at once.

Once the chicken is cooked add the remaining marinade, coconut milk, and salt. Cover the pan and simmer till chicken is tender and only a little gravy remains. In the meantime, grind the nuts into a nut paste. Mix in the nut paste and simmer till oil floats on top of the pan.

Serve very hot with rice or toasted naan. Add fresh chopped cilantro on top.

Enjoy.

~Cookin Mum