Lahori Chargha
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve talked about the Chargha I ate for lunch on the train in 2019. How it was delivered wrapped in newspaper inside a carrier bag and slid through the train window. How my mum attempted to portion the whole bird with a plastic knife and fork on a moving train. And how we ate it on disposable plates with runny saalans and roghni naan, precariously balanced on our knees.
🐓Lahori Chargha, is a whole chicken in a rich spice marinade, traditionally steamed and flash-fried. This style of cooking the bird on a stove top results in tender, succulent chicken with a crispy exterior. In theory. However, I find the chargha to be overcooked at most places I’ve eaten at, the bird reduced to rubbery cheese string like strands. As I developed my own recipe, I found roasting the bird in the oven ensured the same cooking effect with less room to turn it into a rubber chicken.
👩🏽🍳A note on Pakistani cooking: most homes in Pakistan don’t have ovens and it’s safe to say all home cooking is stove-top based. Modern kitchens are obviously fitted with ovens now and it’s no surprise that desi home cooks are now obsessed with baking! The tandoor, a clay oven is the mainstay of the sanjay chulha, the community kitchen. While main dishes would be cooked at home, the community kitchen would supply the freshly made naan. The tandoor ends up being reserved for baking naan and it makes sense other dishes like the chargha are designated to the stove top.
🩸The bright red masala is a distinguishing quality of chargha and most recipes call for red food colouring as an integral ingredient. The natural shades of desi spices are what peak my appetite and so I have omitted artificial food colouring from my recipe.
Finally, traditional recipes call for removing the skin, but I find the skin is where the magic happens, hello! So I’m keeping it on my birdie!
INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken with the skin on (1kg bird)
3 garlic cloves (crushed)
2 inches of ginger paste (crushed)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp coriander seeds (toasted & crushed)
2 tsp cumin seeds (toasted & crushed)
2 tsp paprika
1.5 tsp crushed pepper
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cardamom powder (6 pods, seeds removed and crushed)
4 tbs oil
1 onion, cut into quarters
NOTES:
Prep: Marinade the chicken overnight for best results. But really marinading the chicken for any amount of time, even 20 minutes helps the spices and flavour permeate the flesh!
Roasting tray: Ideally the tray should be bigger than the bird, with high edges to catch the juices the bird releases
Timings & Temperatures, the rule of thumb👍🏽
- 180℃ for 40 minutes per 1 kg
- 220℃ for 20 minutes to brown the skin
- 15-20 minutes to rest out of the oven
METHOD
Score the breast and legs diagonally with a knife. Be careful not to cut all the way to the bone.
Combine the dry spices and oil together to form a masala marinade. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, getting it into all the crevices of the bird.
Place the onion wedges at the bottom of your roasting tray and pour in enough water so that they are submerged half way.
Place the marinaded chicken on top of the onions and cover the tray with foil. Make sure to seal your tray properly as you want to capture the steam created by the water during the cooking.
Rest the chicken in the fridge overnight.
Take the chicken out an hour before cooking to bring it back to room temperature.
Roast the chicken for 45 minutes at 180℃.
At this stage, remove the foil to reveal the chicken swishing around in the delicious steamy water, the onions have softened. [You can test if the chicken is cooked through by gently pulling at the leg and it will give way easily. If the meat at this joint is still pink, pop the chicken back in the oven for another 10 minutes, with the foil on.]
Drain the juices into a saucepan and reduce to a light gravy.
Put the chicken back in the oven at 220℃ for 20 minutes get that crispy skin.
Take the chicken out of the oven and let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.
Serving suggestions:
Pulled chicken with half the gravy poured over the pulled meat. Served in iceberg lettuce wraps or over a fresh salad.
As a dining table centrepiece with plentiful sides and naan!