Braised Chicken in Tomato Saffron Sauce

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This braised chicken, served with flavourful tomato saffron sauce is a simple, yet delicious dish. It’s the perfect companion for any Persian rice dish, such as Reshteh Polo, Morasa Polo, Baghali Polo, Zereshk Polo, and many more.

For this recipe I used poussin but you could use chicken legs or your preferred cut of chicken.

Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.

Khoreshe Morgh recipe

Time

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 1 h 20 min

Total: 1 h 25 min

Ingredients (serving 4)

2 poussins or 4 chicken legs (about 1kg/ 2.2lbs)

1 onion

1/2 cup/118ml vegetable oil

1.1lbs/500g tomato passata

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 tsp ground saffron

Salt to taste

Method

1. Grind the saffron threads using pestle and mortar. Sprinkle the ground saffron over the ice cubes and set them aside to melt.

2. Peel and finely slice the onions.

3. Sear the chicken legs (skinless) or poussin in vegetable oil over medium heat until golden brown all around. Remove them from the pan and set them aside.

4. Gently fry the onion in the same oil over low to medium heat for 5 min. 

5. Place the pan over medium heat, and add the tomato passata, a splash of hot water, and saffron water. Season with turmeric, black pepper and salt, and place the poussin (breast side down) or chicken legs in the sauce. Pour some sauce over the chicken, if it isn’t fully submerged in the sauce. Close the lid and reduce the temperature to low. Let the chicken simmer for 30 min, then turn the poussin or chicken legs. Let them simmer for another 30 min. Occasionally pour some of the sauce over them.

6. After 1 hour or once the chicken is perfectly cooked and tender, serve it with the tomato saffron sauce and the accompanying rice dish.

saffron chicken stew

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I’d love to see your Braised Chicken! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!

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If you have any questions please let me know in the comments, I’m always happy to help. Let’s stay in touch via Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.

Classic Persian Recipes e-book by Hami Sharafi

Classic Persian Recipes · e-book

This recipe and 25 more classics, in one book

26 of Iran’s best-loved dishes, including 7 vegan versions. Download it once, cook from it forever.

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Polo Zaferooni - Persian Saffron Rice

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Do Piazeh Jegar - Spicy Onion Chicken Liver