Saffron chicken (kong kokur) recipe
This whole roasted chicken is fragrant with Kashmiri spices.
Note the prep time does not include marinating.
Ingredients
- 8 tsp sunflower oil or ghee
- 100 g shallots, thinly sliced
- 8 whole cloves
- 1 x 8cm (3in) cinnamon stick
- 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 2 tsp ground fennel
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp saffron strands, soaked in 3 tablespoons lukewarm water
- 1 x 1kg (2lb 4oz) whole chicken, skin removed
Details
- Cuisine: Kashmiri
- Recipe Type: Chicken
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 115 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6.
- Heat 5 teaspoons of the oil or ghee in a large pan, add the shallots and fry until golden brown, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Once cool, blitz to a paste in a food processor.
- Place all the whole and ground spices, along with the salt, in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, and grind to a fine powder.
- In a bowl, combine this spice powder with the shallot paste and saffron water, along with the remaining 3 teaspoons of oil or ghee. Mix together with a fork.
- Apply this spice paste to the whole chicken, ensuring it is thoroughly covered, then leave to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Place the marinated chicken in a roasting tray (pan) and roast in the hot oven for 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Turn off the oven and leave the chicken to rest in the oven while you preheat the grill (broiler) to high.
- Place the chicken under the grill and cook for 15 minutes until browned on top. Serve with chutneys or relishes of your choice, rice and any vegatarian side dish.
This recipe is from On The Himalayan Trail by Romy Gill (Hardie Grant, £27). Photography ©Poras Chaudhary and Matt Russell.
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