Name: Yogurt-Almond Chicken with a Spinach Sauce (Badam Murghi)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ¼ cup slivered blanched almonds; 1 cup plain yogurt; 4 tablespoons canola oil; 1 medium-size red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced; 1 chicken (3½ pounds), skin removed, cut into 8 pieces (see box); ½ teaspoon whole cloves, ground; 5 to 7 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed; 6 large cloves garlic; 6 lengthwise slices fresh ginger (each 1½ inches long, 1 inch wide, and ⅛ inch thick); 1 bag (5 ounces) fresh prewashed baby spinach leaves; 4 fresh or dried bay leaves; ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, ground; 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, ground; ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds from green or white pods, ground

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

The almonds here help to thicken the sauce as well as providing flavor. The number of chiles in the marinade might alarm you, but never fear: the same almonds come to the rescue to lower the chiles’ capsaicin effect.

Ingredients

For the marinade

1 cup plain yogurt
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds
6 lengthwise

Asia
India
Main course
Gluten-free
Spicy

Method

To make the marinade, combine the yogurt, almonds, ginger, garlic, and chiles in a blender jar. Puree, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to make a smooth, albeit slightly gritty, sauce. Transfer the contents to a medium-size bowl. Fold in the cilantro, coriander, cumin, salt, cardamom, and cloves to make a marinade freckled with dark brown spices.
Add the

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Ingredients

For the marinade

Method

Part of