Lahori Murg Chanay
This is one of those dishes that makes perfect sense once you think about it. Chickpeas are cooked slowly in chicken stock until they become rich and savoury, then the shredded chicken goes back in at the end. Nothing complicated, just a very efficient exchange of flavours. The chickpeas get the chicken, the chicken gets the chickpeas, and everyone wins. Chemistry, but delicious.
Ingredients
For soaking
500 g small variety chickpeas
60 g chana dal
1 tsp baking soda
For yakhni
500 g bone-in chicken
2.5 litres water
3 cloves
2 green cardamom pods
2 tbsp neutral oil
For the masala
100 g onion
100 g green chillies
2-inch piece ginger
4 cloves garlic
3 cloves
2 green cardamom pods
1 tbsp Achari Gosht masala
500 ml neutral oil
Final cooking
2 litres yakhni
Soaked chickpeas and chana dal
½ tbsp turmeric
½ tbsp MSG
1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
½ tbsp red chilli flakes
Shredded chicken
1 tbsp coconut powder
1 tbsp cumin
½ tbsp black pepper
4 tbsp curd
30 ml cream
4 green chillies
Neutral oil
Salt
Method
Soak
Soak the chickpeas and chana dal in plenty of water with 1 tsp baking soda overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
Drain and wash them thoroughly before cooking.
Prepare the yakhni
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed vessel. Add the chicken and fry until lightly browned.
Add 2.5 litres of hot water. As the water comes to a boil, foam will rise to the surface. Skim this off.
Add the cloves and green cardamom, reduce the heat, cover and cook until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
Remove the chicken from the stock and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, remove the bones and shred the meat.
Strain the yakhni and keep it aside.
Prepare the masala
Finely chop the onion.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chillies to a blender and pulse to a coarse paste. Do not add water.
Heat 500 ml oil in a pan. Yes, it looks like a ridiculous amount of oil. It isn't. Most of it will be separated later and used as tari, so only part of it actually ends up in the dish.
Add the onions and fry until they turn a very light golden colour. Add the cloves and green cardamom, followed by the ginger, garlic and green chilli paste.
Fry for about 5 minutes, then add the Achari Gosht masala. Continue frying until the masala darkens slightly and the oil starts separating.
Switch off the heat and let the masala rest for a few minutes. The masala will settle at the bottom while the oil floats to the top.
Carefully separate the oil from the masala and reserve both.
Assemble the dish
Put the washed chickpeas and chana dal into a deep kadhai.
Add enough yakhni to come about 1 inch above the chickpeas. Reserve the remaining yakhni for later.
Add salt, MSG, Kashmiri red chilli powder and turmeric. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and cook until the chickpeas are almost completely cooked.
Add the shredded chicken and continue cooking. The chickpeas in this dish should be very soft, so don't stop at the point where they are merely cooked through. We are looking for almost creamy.
Add chilli flakes and continue cooking.
If the gravy starts getting too dry at any point, add more of the reserved yakhni. The finished dish should have a thick, creamy gravy rather than a dry masala coating.
Coarsely grind the cumin and black pepper. Mix them with the coconut powder and about ½ cup of yakhni to make a loose paste.
Add this to the kadhai. Adding the powdered spices directly can cause them to clump, so mixing them with the stock first helps them disperse evenly.
Add the curd and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the reserved masala and continue cooking until the chickpeas are completely soft and the gravy has thickened.
Stir in the cream and adjust the salt.
Switch off the heat. Pour in about half of the reserved masala oil, add the whole green chillies and leave them sitting on top. Don't mix.
Cover and let the dish rest for 10 minutes.
Serve hot with kulchas or naan.