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Chelo morgh is the dish behind a thousand Iranian Friday lunches. Chicken is braised slowly with onion, garlic, saffron and a stick of cinnamon, with no tomato at all, so the saffron gets the stage to itself.
The result is golden and tender, and very hard to stop eating.
At a glance: serves four. About an hour and a half. Easy.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken legs or 1 whole chicken, jointed
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp turmeric
- A generous pinch of saffron, bloomed in 4 tbsp hot water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 cups basmati rice, for chelo
- 2 tbsp butter
- Vegetable oil, salt and black pepper
Method
- Fry the onions slowly until soft and golden. Add the garlic and turmeric.
- Brown the chicken in the onions, add the cinnamon and a cup of water, season and cover. Cook on a low heat for about an hour.
- Add the saffron and lemon juice for the last 15 minutes. The sauce should reduce to a thick golden glaze.
- Meanwhile soak, parboil and steam the rice. Brown the chicken pieces in butter just before serving if you like a crisp finish.
No tomato. This is what sets chelo morgh zaferani apart. Resist the urge.
Saffron. Grind it with a pinch of sugar before blooming it. Our Persian pantry guide covers where to buy good saffron abroad.
Where to buy the ingredients. Outside Iran, you can order saffron, dried barberries, basmati rice, a Persian rice cooker and turmeric online.
Serve with barberry rice for a special occasion, or plain rice and salad Shirazi any day of the week. Iran produces around 90% of the world’s saffron.
