Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A tymely touch of novelty


This dish is somewhere between Indian and middle-eastern. I cannot help wondering whether that actually makes it a moghlai dish. I know it is nothing like the food that we know as moghlai, but think about it. The mughals in India were of Persian (middle-eastern) decent and then they came to India and adopted some knowledge of the spices and this became known as Moghlai cuisine - no make that the amazingly popular defination of Indian food moghlai food.
Ok, so you say, not quite...
I will concede, this is a great dish anyway.
Citrus - Thyme Chicken
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 oranges
1 lime or lemon
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp sumac
1.5 tsp dried thyme
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger
2-3 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
1 tsp salt
10 chicken drumsticks, skinned
For the garnish
1 fresh orange
Extra thyme or cilantro
Method of Preparation
1. Squeeze the orange and lime juice into a blender.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients except the chicken into the blender and grind to a puree.
3. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for 2-4 hours.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Arrange the chicken on a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.
5. In the meantime, slice the orange for the garnish.
6. Remove the chicken from the oven, turn, and place each slice on the oven and return to the oven.
7. Remove and garnish with the remaining fresh herbs (thyme and cilantro).
Serve with a salad and decide whether this just might qualify as moghlai.
And this entry goes, to up a the host of this week's weekend herb blogging. Yes, I am wrapping this up ahead of mother's day but might be cooking a special brunch entry for a mom I know (not my mom, I wish she was close enough) but just another person who has shared this journey
that we call motherhood.

1 comment:

  1. I'm intrigued by this recipe and the idea of a blend of middle eastern and Indian cuisines. It's the first I've heard of it. Sounds like a good recipe for me to try with the wonderful new curry powder I got. I've tried it once already, on cauliflower and loved it. Thanks again.

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