Parsi Murgh Farcha

I believe this might be my first attempt at cooking a dish from India... I got it off eGullet from a class by Monica Bhide, the author of The Everything Indian Cookbook. She did one dish each from various regions of India. Of the Parsi she said: "Their cuisine is a tantalizing marriage of Persian and Gujarati styles. Flavoring their curries with nuts and apricots, they brought the richness of Persia to the simple Gujarati food. Parsi food is not hot with chilies but has complex flavors and textures."

Parsi Murgh Farcha

6- 7 tender chicken breasts
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1 tablespoon of minced fresh mint
1 tablespoon coriander powder
½ tablespoon cumin powder
2 Serrano green chilies, minced
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, minced
½ cups dried plain breadcrumbs
Oil to panfry

Make slits in the chicken breast. Marinate it with a mixture of the Garam masala, mint, coriander powder, cumin powder, green chilies, sugar, salt and vegetable oil. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.

In a bowl combine the eggs and cilantro leaves. Create an assembly line – marinated chicken, eggs, breadcrumbs (placed on a flat plate). Now first dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs and then the egg wash. Panfry it till done. (The best way to tell if the chicken is cooked is to poke a knife through it. If no water seeps out from the chicken, it is cooked.)

Notes: There wasn't a specification for how much oil to use in the pan, and I think I ended up with about an inch or so. It took roughly 15 minutes for the chicken to cook on medium high heat, and I turned it once about halfway through. It's mentioned in the class that doing the eggwash on the outside seals in flavor and juices, and I can believe it because the chicken sure was tender. Of course, I really wanted to serve this with garlic naan (one of my favorite things) but decided homemade naan would have to wait for another time, so instead we just had a roasted garlic baked bread.