What Do I Do With Whole Spices After Cooking The Mughlai Chicken?

Our answer

Nigella's Mughlai Chicken (from FEAST) is a mild, almost korma-like curry made with ginger, garlic and a variety of spices. The sauce is enriched with cream and yogurt. It is a great entertaining dish as it is even more flavoursome if it is made a day or two in advance and reheated before serving (for directions, see the Additional Information box at the bottom of the recipe).

The spice mixture includes bay leaves, whole cloves, a cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. The cardamom pods should be bruised or very lightly crushed with the back of a heavy knife or rolling pin to help release their flavour. It is really a matter of personal preference as to whether you remove the whole spices or not before serving. It is fairly easy to see and fish out the bay leaves and the halves of cinnamon stick, and as these are large we would suggest that it is probably a good idea to take them out. It needs a bit more patience if you want to recover the cloves and cardamom pods and if you don't want to pick these out then do make sure that you alert whoever is eating the dish to their presence. If you are making the dish in advance then leave the spices in while the Mughlai Chicken is in the fridge and remove them before reheating the dish.