I love guessing and inventing recipes. It is a special thrill to see or imagine something delicious and then try – and succeed – to recreate it. Like Jordanian chicken with spices. One time I was watching a documentary on Iranian culture and cuisine, chicken with dried apricots was mentioned and it immediately sparked my attention. When they showed the process in some detail, I was absolutely sure I wanted to try this. So here is my version of it.
My observation from the documentary
First, the onion is hacked into small pieces and fired on a spoon or two of oil. This is a great start for any dish and apparently also very popular in Iranian cuisine. Next, curcuma, pieces of chicken and tomato puree are added. Chicken pieces should be varied: breasts as well as legs together with bones, to provide full chicken flavor and taste. Then the whole mix is fried till the chicken is well done. Enough water is added to cover everything. Safran is covered with boiling water in a separate pot to make a kind of saffron tea. That way it supposedly releases more flavor. After short mixing of the safran, the mix is added to the chicken and the whole pot is cooked for several hours. My guess is that an hour or two should be more than enough. Finally dried apricots are added. There is no need to cut the apricots into small pieces, just add them whole or cut in half. Some more cooking is in order – again I am guessing 30-60 minutes. The dish should be finished and ready to be served with rice.
The main problem is not the cooking times, but the amount of spices. Just how much saffron and curcuma do you need for 0.5 kg of chicken? And I guess salt is also added, although it is not mentioned.
There was no other way but to try to cook by feeling and see what will come out. Well, the first result was definitely as expected. Sweetish, slightly acidic, a bit metallic saffron taste. Overall gentle, but long lasting in the mouth. Just as I imagine it. The complete recipe can be found below.
Iranian chicken with dried apricots recipe
1 medium sized onion
1000 g of chicken (legs with bones, breast)
100 g of dried apricots
200 ml of tomato puree
1 tablespoon curcuma
0,125 g saffron
3 tablespoons of olive oil
salt
black pepper (optional)
water
Finely chop the onion and fry it in olive oil, until it turns glassy. Add chicken hacked in bigger pieces and fry until it is lightly golden. Add curcuma powder and tomato puree, fry for a minute and add boiling water to cover the chicken. Pour hot water over the saffron, mix and let it stand for a couple of minutes. Add to the chicken, salt to taste and cook for about 1,5 hours. Add dried apricots (cut in half or whole) and cook for an additional half an hour. If you want to make the dish super pleasant, remove all the bones from the chicken before saving it. Serve with rice, cooked potatoes or bread.
