Chef Meherwan Irani's Parsi-style fried chicken, Marghi Na Farcha, was singled out as the "most flavorful" entry in a recent Food & Wine taste test that pitted six fried chicken recipes from well-known chefs against each other.
The taste test
Food & Wine's editors and Test Kitchen staff tested and tasted six fried chicken recipes from famous chefs — including Thomas Keller, Bobby Flay, Jonathan Waxman, Shaun Doty, and Angie Mosier, whose Super-Crispy Pan-Fried Chicken ultimately took the top overall spot. Irani's Marghi Na Farcha was recognized in its own category as the most flavorful of the bunch.
About the recipe
Irani's Marghi Na Farcha (Parsi Fried Chicken) starts with a marinade of cilantro, lime juice, and dried spices including turmeric and Kashmiri chile powder. The marinated chicken — boneless, skinless thighs, in the version tested — is then dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and shallow-fried in a cast-iron skillet while being basted. Active time is about 40 minutes, with a total time of roughly 1 hour 10 minutes.
Food & Wine's tasters loved the flavor of the dish, though they noted that the added moisture from the marinade and egg meant the breading didn't crisp up quite as much as some of the other recipes tested. Even so, the dish was, in the tasters' words, "deeply satisfying."
About Meherwan Irani
Irani is the chef behind Chai Pani, the Asheville, North Carolina restaurant that helped put the city on the culinary map when it opened in 2009 and was later named Outstanding Restaurant at the James Beard Awards. He moved to the United States from Maharashtra, India, as a graduate student before moving into the food business. Beyond Chai Pani, he owns multiple restaurants and the spice company Spicewalla, and his recipes have appeared in Food & Wine for years. As the Food & Wine piece notes, Irani's father is Parsi, a descendant of Zoroastrians who settled on India's west coast from present-day Iran more than 1,000 years ago.
Parsi Khabar has covered Irani's rise for several years, including his 2022 James Beard Award win and Chai Pani being named Best Restaurant in America that same year.
Recipe
For the slaw
- 1 (14-ounce) bag coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
For the chicken
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems, plus sprigs for serving
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 small Thai green chiles or 1 serrano chile, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon toasted and ground cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder or ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 2-inch piece peeled ginger, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, or more if needed
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- Sliced red onion, for garnish
Directions
Make the slaw
- In a medium bowl, mix the cabbage and carrots. Season with the salt and sugar and toss to coat. Mix in the lime juice and vinegar. Let marinate while making the chicken.
Make the chicken
Gently and carefully lower the chicken into the hot oil. Cook, basting top of chicken several times with hot oil, until bottom is golden and crisp, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip chicken pieces and continue cooking and basting until chicken is golden and crispy, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thighs reads 160°F, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to the prepared wire rack and keep warm in the oven while cooking the remaining chicken. Serve the chicken with fresh sprigs of cilantro, sliced red onion, and the slaw.
In a small or mini food processor, blend the cilantro, lime juice, chiles, garlic, cumin, turmeric, Kashmiri chile powder, if using, ginger, and salt into a thick paste, adding a teaspoon or two of water if needed to help the mixture blend smoothly, but so much that it becomes runny. Transfer to a bowl, add the chicken, and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (and up to 5 hours).
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Heat 1/2 inch oil in a large cast-iron skillet until a deep-fry or instant thermometer registers 330°F.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until blended and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Place the flour in another medium bowl. Working in two batches, dredge the chicken in the flour to coat, then shake off any excess. Coat the chicken in the beaten egg, allowing excess egg to drip back into the bowl.