Recipe: Aam Murghi Bombay

Note: This recipe, from Jennifer Brennan’s book, “Curries and Bugles -- A Memoir and a Cookbook of the British Raj” (HarperCollins, $25), is as delicious as you’d expect a dish that combines butter, mangoes and whipping cream with chicken and then tops it all with fried cashews.

“In Bombay it is sworn that the only way to eat mangoes is naked and in the bath,” writes Brennan in her book. “But this dish can be sanely, safely and soberly eaten with your clothes on. Pity! Serve the dish with rice and semi-ripe banana halves, sauteed in a little butter. Fried cashews may be sprinkled over the top.”

3 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter

3 pounds chicken pieces, skinned

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon oil

2 large onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 large ripe mangoes, peeled

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Zest of 1/2 lemon, cut in strips

1 cup chicken stock

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup whipping cream

Heat ghee in large saucepan placed over medium-high heat. Saute chicken pieces until lightly browned. Remove chicken and drain over pan.

Reduce heat and add butter and oil to same pan. Saute onions and garlic until tender. Roughly chop flesh of 1 1/2 mangoes. Season with nutmeg, pepper, salt and turmeric. Add lemon zest. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Return chicken to pan with chicken stock.Cover pan and simmer 45 minutes, or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken to heat-proof casserole and keep warm in low oven.

Reduce mango gravy in pan by half. Stir in lemon juice and whipping cream. Cook, stirring, another 5 minutes (do not boil).

Puree gravy in blender or force through sieve. Pour over chicken in casserole. Slice remaining 1 1/2 mangoes crosswise. Arrange decoratively on top and let dish remain in oven 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.