A few years ago while my mom was here visiting we were invited to lunch at my cousin’s house Mitra. I will say without a shadow of shame that food time is my favorite time when it comes to such visits because dear Lord the food is good, so good, ridiculously good! I think for lunch my Ameh, aunt, the same one with the killer Khoreshteh Fesenjan, had made Zereshk Polow, a staple when I visit since word got out when I was a kid that it was my favorite. Along with the delicious Zereshk Polow was this platter with chicken in a GORGEOUS and BRIGHT yellow sauce.
As soon as my mom and I took one bight of the chicken our heads started spinning and our eyes widened in the sensory pleasures of the party that was going on in our mouth. Mom and I locked eyes and sent each other telepathic messages resembling the following:
“Oh MY GOD, this is so good!”
“What’s in it? How is it made?”
“I taste saffron and lemon juice!”
“Oh! the color is so bright and it smells heavenly!”
I could have named this post simply Turmeric and Saffron Chicken and it would have made it justice, but that was too boring in my humble opinion, so I gave it a better name because the color is just like sunshine to me, so bright and warm!
Before we go forward I have to let you in on a little piece of info. So here is the thing, when Mitra emailed me the recipe last week she reminded me that she makes this dish on the sour side. If you have read the Khoreshteh Fesenjan post, by now you know that I am a fan of all things sour, it pretty much came with the half Shirazi DNA folks! So if you don’t like your food on the sour/tart side, use less lemon juice in this recipe.
Ingredients
10 chicken drumsticks (Mitra specifically says that this dish is best when made with drumsticks)
1 large onion
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp Saffron mixed with water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Rough chop onion and place in a pot.
Add chicken on top.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add turmeric. Look at the color! It just brightens up everything!
Add 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook for half hour or until chicken is cooked all the way through.
Remember to give the whole pot a stir about 10 minutes into the cooking allowing the turmeric to coat the chicken and onions.
In the mean time squeeze some fresh lemon juice. Remember, if you don’t want it on the sour side, just use 1/4 of a cup of juice.
When chicken is done remove from the pot and keep in a place where it stays warm.
Add Saffron and lemon juice. Adjust seasoning if needed.
With a hand blender or a regular blender, blend the juice and onion until nice and smooth. Let reduce for a few minutes until the sauce thickens. This should take less than 10 minutes.
Arrange drumsticks in a platter and pour sauce over the chicken.
So easy and quick to make! This chicken dish can be paired with any polow you may wish to serve it with.
I promise, once you taste this chicken, your life will never be the same!
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Win! This looks easy enough for ME to make! Can’t wait to try it.
it’s super duper easy Sheila! Make it, make it!
This looks lovely. I love the sunshine colours, and tastes.
Thank you Maninas, so appropriately named, no?
Thanks so much for posting this! I made it tonight for myself and my parents. We all loved it! I used 1/2 cup of lemon–my family loves all things sour.
Thank you again. I really enjoy your blog.
Cassie, thank you! I am so glad you liked it! You are the second person who has told me that has made it and liked it!! WOOhoo!
Mitra’s sunshine chicken is absolutely delicious easy and fast to make. I like sour taste but not everybody at my home. So, I cut on lemon juice but for lemony savor I added some lemon zest, outcome was very yummy.
AWESOME Soraya jan! I am so happy you made this recipe and liked it! Lemon zest is an excellent addition!
Love this dish. The color is gorgeous! I was just making something similar last week. Like Soraya, I think I’ll add in some lemon zest. Thanks for the recipe.
JUST made it and it’s gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, which I have had once before. My husband is Persian and his ameh made this dish once for us… I was thrilled to find it here and have been enthusiastically sharing this website with friends and family!! One question though…is there a torshi section?? If not, then please in the future! This website has made my day, week, year!!!
Janelle, thank you for your kind words and sharing the blog with others! Don’t have a torshi recipe, but I promise, one will appear soon!:)
This was delicious and so easy! Made it with the zereshk polo like you suggested. Wonderful combo!
Salam alaikum, this is a very tasty chicken dish. I doubled the the sauce the second time making this as DH likes a real sauce with his rice. We had it with your excellent Zereshk Polow ~ Rice with Barberries, masha Allah. I did make it proportioned for a half a cut up skinned chicken and the drum sticks were hands down the best part. So next time insha Allah I will use just them alone. Wonderful to be cheaper. I used Iranian saffron which is superior and followed the recipe exactly.
Ok second try at this awesome dish and I just think it is worth mentioning to tell us to remove the skin off of the thighs before seasoning them! I almost left the skin on, which prevents that flavor from getting through to the meat! That would have been MY bad!!! delicious recipe, thanks again Sanam!
Sanam I am in the process of preparing this beautiful dish but I love the red dish that you are preparing the chicken in, the size is perfect. Is this a Le Creuset pan? Will have to let you know how my chicken turns out when completed!
Salma, I am sure you will love this dish! All the pots and pans that you see me use that are orange, for the exception of the big round orange one, are by Descoware and were made in Belgium. The set belonged to my husband’s parents until he moved out of their home and borrowed them permanently!! I think they have had them since the 1960s. At some point Le Creuset purchased the rights to Descoware so I guess I can say that our pots and pans are the grandparents of today’s fabulous Le Creusets!
If you don’t have a blender, would you suggest to fine chop the onions before cooking or leave them rough chopped?
Neda, I would fine chop the onions.