Chicken stuffed with apricots

The Persians referred to apricots as “eggs of the sun” and the fruit became beloved of the Mogul emperors of India. Zard alu, or golden plums, as they were known in the north of the subcontinent, were grown in Kabul in Afghanistan and in the Vale of Kashmir, and their sweetness lent itself to preserves and chutneys. My memories are of golden pyramids of the fruit in the bazaars and shops of Rawalpindi and of munching the aromatic flesh until the juice ran down my chin. (I hasten to a