Parsi-style chicken farcha is a delicate cousin to Southern fried chicken, with a crispy fried exterior around tender spiced meat. Parsi food reflects both Persian and Gujarati Indian cuisines. Chicken farcha with yogurt and mint raita is often served as an appetizer dish at Parsi celebrations and festivities, including weddings and religious observances. It is also often eaten as a side dish with curries and dals. The preparation is commonly found on restaurant menus in India but is less well-known in the United States, where Parsi communities are relatively small and Parsi cuisine is quite a newly emergent culinary trend.
Recipe Servings: 6
Prep Time
15 minutes
+ 8 hours resting
+ 8 hours resting
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
8 hours 35 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- 1 medium chicken, cut into eight serving pieces
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled
- 4 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
- 5–10 green chilies
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 small onion, cut into four pieces
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp olive or salad oil.
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1 tsp all-purpose flour, slightly heaped
- ½ cup dry breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- Vegetable oil or ghee, as needed for frying
Directions
- De-bone the chicken breast; then, with a sharp knife, slice open each piece of the meat several times, not cutting all the way through.
- In food processor, combine the garlic, ginger, coriander, chilies, cumin, onion, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, salt, and flour, and pulse to form a paste.
- Coat each of the pieces of chicken with the paste and allow to marinate for 8–9 hours, refrigerated.
- In a deep frying pan, heat a generous inch of oil or ghee over medium heat.
- Separate the eggs into two small bowls. Beat the whites until frothy; then add back the egg yolks and blend thoroughly to combine.
- Coat each piece of chicken with breadcrumbs, and then dip each into the egg mixture and fry, turning to cook both sides and removing when the chicken is tender.
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