Masala Chicken

My family and I like to eat Northern Indian food. We frequent Shahi Maharani Northern Indian Restaurant at 4th floor of Raffles City. We always order their signature dishes like Rogan Josh, Vindaloo, Tandoori Chicken and Masala Chicken. I strongly recommend their cheese and garlic naan because they are made on the spot - fresh from the oven, crispy, fragrant and yummy. You must also try their saffron rice. every grain of rice tastes divine and out of this world.

A few days ago my nieces came over from KL and so we brought them to this restaurant for dinner. We ordered curry fish head, tandoori chicken, leg of lamb and vindaloo. Though it seemed the standard of food does not match our previous visits, neverthesless all of us still enjoyed the meal.

If you are interested to try this restaurant, I recommend going for a weekday lunch with a partner because they have a 1 for 1 lunch buffet at $40++. It is a VERY reasonable price and you get good ambiance and can definitely set your teeth into their flavourful tandoori chicken and rich gravy.

Below is a recipe I obtained from a magazine. On my first attempt, the taste is not bad! Of course this cannot be compared to the dish at Shahi Maharani.

Recipe

Ingredients:

~ l kg chicken (cut into big pieces)

~ 4-5 tomatoes (chopped coarsely)

~ 1 tablespoon garam malasa powder (available at supper markets )

(A) Grind and mix together ingredients:

~ 4-5 pips garlic

~ 10 shallots

~ 5 fresh red chillies ( seeds removed)

~ 7-8 chillies padi

~ 3 cm piece ginger

~ 1 cm fresh kunyit

~1 teaspoon jintan putih

~ 1/2 teaspoon jintan manis

~ 1 tablespoon ketumbar powder (coriander powder)

~ 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

~ 1 teaspoon white pepper powder

(B)

~ 5 cm piece kayu manis

~ 5 bubga cengkih (clove)

~ 4 bunga pelaga (split open)

~ 2 bulbs bunga kantan (ginger flower)

Seasoning: 3 tbsp. ghee/cooking oil, salt and sugar to taste.

Method:

~1) Marinade chicken with 2 tablespoon of ingredients (A) and put aside for 1 hour.

~2) Heat a heavy based saucepan until just hot. Add in ghee and fry (A) and (B) until fragrant.

~3) Put in marinated chicken and tomatoes. Cover with lid and allow to simmer over a low heat until chicken is tender and gravy is thick.

~4) Add salt and sugar to taste.

~5) Serve.