There are two Afghan restaurants near where I live, and I love them so much that not one, but both restaurants know me by name. That’s when it hit me that I should probably attempt to recreate some of these delicious meals myself, to help my poor empty wallet. So, here’s my attempt at Korma-E-Murgh (at least that’s what it is called on their menu). The dishes are usually made with lamb or chicken, and the lamb far surpasses the chicken. But making lamb still intimidates me, so I’m trying this with my trusty chicken. On the menu, this dish is described as “delicately seasoned boneless diced chicken with tomatoes, onions, and selected Afghan spices, served with white rice”… here goes..
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| Ingredients |
Ingredients
  For the sauce:
- Â Â Â Â 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Â Â Â Â 1 medium onion, chopped
- Â Â Â Â 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Â Â Â Â 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
- Â Â Â Â 2 teaspoons paprika
- Â Â Â Â 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- Â Â Â Â 3 teaspoons ground coriander
- Â Â Â Â 1 cup water
 For the chalow:
- Â Â Â Â 1 cup basmati rice
- Â Â Â Â 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- Â Â Â Â 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- Â Â Â Â 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- Â Â Â Â 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- Â Â Â Chicken
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the chicken, sprinkle a mixture of
     4 parts garlic powder
     4 parts onion powder
     2 parts paprika
     2 parts ground coriander
     1 part ground cumin
     1 part ground pepper
onto the chicken. Put the chicken into a saute pan on medium heat to brown on both sides. Place in the oven to finish cooking, about 20 minutes.
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| Chicken Out of the Oven |
While the chicken is in the oven, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the rice, cumin, nutmeg, and cloves. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes.
Lastly, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. In a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients listen under “sauce”, and to the pan, and mix. Reduce to a simmer. Remove chicken from the oven when finished, cut into bite sized pieces, and add to sauce. Simmer the chicken in the sauce for 15 minutes uncovered.
Serve the chicken and sauce over the rice. Enjoy.
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| Nom. |
Ok. So it wasn’t as good as what I get at the restaurants. But, it wasn’t half bad! It is most certainly missing some spice that I can’t exactly pick out, plus the restaurants’ use of slow cooked lamb and eggplant really up the dish. If you’ve never tried Afghan food before, I’d suggest trying the above. It’s definitely an approachable dish, and great on a chilly night.
If anyone knows what I might have missed, let me know!
Don’t bake the chicken! You got our spices right though ??
I married into an Afghan family and have learned a few tricks to making the the dishes taste like my mother in laws. First, start with the onions. Cook them over med low heat until they get dark brown. You can fry the chicken with the onions for a few minutes on either side to make less dishes to clean up later, then remove the chicken, add the tomato paste, and stir until your brown onions are bright orange. Then add the spices and water and return your chicken (cut up) to simmer in the sauce while the rice finishes.
Also, I have never heard any of the women in our family cook the rice with chicken broth (rice is almost holy to Afghans…its kind of a right of passage). They would probably consider it a little sacrilegious…but I think it sounds great. Ill try it this way tonight. One thing I would suggest is to soak your rice before cooking it. We always rinse the rice several times until the water runs clear, then soak it for 30 minutes to 8 hours, depending on how much time you have. Then add it to salted boiling water, cover, and cook for 6-8 minutes until it is a little chewy, but mostly cooked. We then dump the rice in a colander to drain the water and return it to the pan. We will add a little oil and water (and more salt if your rice needs it when you tasted it) and cover with some wet paper towels and then tin foil. Then put the lid on and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Some people add some cardamom, saffron, or cumin seeds, but we usually just leave it white.
There is another blogger in Fremont that does some slightly Americanized takes on Afghan food that you may enjoy. https://www.afghancultureunveiled.com
Hope this helps and that you continue making Afghan food. I think it is some of the best food in the world.
Katherine, thanks so much for the tips! I appreciate it!