Sali Murghi is a delicious Parsi chicken curry. It gets its name from the deep fried potato straws (called Sali) with which the curry is garnished.

Ingredients

2 tbsp ghee or cooking oil

8 chicken thighs (skin on)

5 Shemin’s Green Cardamom Pods, bashed, seeds removed (optional)

2 onions, finely chopped

100g Shemin’s Indian Curry Paste (chilli free, mild, medium or hot)

3 medium tomatoes, around 300g, finely chopped or blitzed (you can also use tin chopped tomatoes)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp jaggery (or brown sugar)

150g dried apricots (use the soft, ready-to-eat type)

½ small pack coriander, chopped

For the Sali

1 large potato, peeled and sliced into matchsticks (see tip below)

vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Method

Melt 1 tbsp of the ghee or cooking oil in a pan and add the chicken, skin side down. Once the skin is golden and crisp (around 5 mins), remove from the pan and set aside (you may need to do this in batches). Melt the remaining ghee or oil in the pan, add Shemin’s Cinnamon, Cardamom and Cumin Seeds, and fry until fragrant – around 1 min. Stir in the onions along with a big pinch of salt and fry for 5 mins until browning in places.
Add Shemin’s Curry Paste and a splash of water and simmer for 2 minutes, continuously stirring. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook gently until they are broken down into the sauce.
Return the chicken to the pan, coating it with the curry base, then add in the white wine vinegar and the jaggery. Add 100ml water, then cover and simmer for 30 mins. Remove the lid and stir in the apricots and coriander, then cook for 10-15 mins longer, with the lid off until the sauce reduces.
Meanwhile, make the sali. Pat the potato matchsticks dry with kitchen paper. Pour vegetable oil into a small, deep saucepan until it’s a few cm deep, and heat over a medium-high heat. Add a handful of the potato matchsticks at a time and fry for around a minute, until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and season generously. Serve the curry with the sali piled on top.

TIP: Using a julienne peeler to make the potato matchsticks to save time.

Serves 4-6

Recipes

Sali Murghi