Which Type Of Cardamom Should I Use For The Mughlai Chicken?

Our answer

Nigella's Mughlai Chicken (from FEAST is a fragrant dish made with a variety of spices. Some of the spices are blended into a paste, but some are left whole so that their flavour just infuses into the sauce.

Green cardamom pods are used whole in the recipe, but are bruised slightly before adding them to the pan. Green cardamom (sometimes referred to as true cardamom) is the type most commonly found in the UK and has a slightly sweet, floral note to it. It is quite versatile and can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Black cardamom is more assertive, with a smoky, resinous flavour that is best in savoury cooking and we would avoid for this dish as it could overpower some of the other spices. White cardamom has rounder, fatter seed pods and has a milder flavour than green cardamom. However, quite a lot of white cardamom on sale is actually bleached green cardamom and used when cardamom is needed as a flavour but the dish or baked good needs to remain completely white. As both have a very mild flavour, we would prefer to use green cardamom pods, which are also gnerally easier to find in supermarkets.