Recipe : Murgh Malai Mughlai

I love Mughlai and North Indian gravies. I make them very often. And I go all the way cooking with my heavy clay pot and coal for that distinct flavour and aroma. The problem is… out here, they sell cream as 200ml and 1 litre packets only. 200ml is a lot of cream for a savoury dish. And I won’t be making desserts for a while now. So what must I do when I buy a packet of cream? Hmm… Well, I started with my favourites -Butter Chicken, Kadhai Chicken, Paneer Makhani. Tomorrow I’ll be making Aloo Matar and then again Methi Matar Malai. All this in an attempt to finish up that 200ml of cream. I’m not complaining. Like I mentioned – I love Mughlai food. Of course, I do not recommend it to anyone with clogged arteries. It’s too heavy. But, I’m me! 😉 I am so accustomed to this style of cooking that I don’t need any recipe. I just look at my pantry and figure out how to use up those ingredients. I decided to make a nice creamish malai kind of dish and use up a lot of my cream. It turned out so yum. You’re in luck because I’m going to share the recipe with you. Here goes…

Ingredients:

Marinate the following:

• 400 gms chicken, bone-in {I love chicken skin, so I am one of the few who asks the butcher to keep it on. But, that’s just me}
• 1/4 tsp pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin/jeera powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp yoghurt/curd
• salt to taste

Other Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 clove/laung
• 2 cardamoms/elaichi
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 1″ ginger, smashed
• 7 cloves of garlic, smashed/pounded in a mortar and pestle
• 7 cashew nuts
• 4 green chilies, chopped
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin/jeera powder
• 1 tsp corriander powder
• 3 tbsp yoghurt
• 2 tsp kasuri methi
• 3 tbsp cream

Method:

• Marinate all the things listed in the first list above for at least half a day and refrigerate. Let the flavours be absorbed by the meat.
• Heat a non stick and add the ghee.
• Then add the whole spices.{clove and elaichi}
• Add the freshly pounded ginger and garlic. Fry a little and enjoy the aromas.
• Add the chopped onion and chilies and fry till translucent.
• Add the cashews.
• Add the powdered spices and yoghurt and fry.
• Cool and grind in your mixer to a nice smooth and fine paste.
• Add it back into your kadhai and add the marinated chicken. If you wish to fry the chicken first, that’s possible but I don’t see the need to add extra oil and steps especially since the meat just loses it’s tenderness with the double cooking.
• Add water as required and cook on gentle heat.
• Add the kasuri methi.
• Lastly, add the cream. Be careful not to overheat or the cream might split.
• Adjust seasonings.
• Give dhungar with a piece each of of coal and clove using ghee/butter.
• You can fry some fresh chopped methi leaves and add to this dish and you have another variant – Methi Malai Chicken. Remember to fry the methi or blanch and discard the water to remove some of it’s bitterness before adding to the gravy.
• If you don’t have access to a mixer-grinder/food processor or don’t have any cashews, you can use besan instead. Just ensure you chop the onions and chillies very fine to ensure a smooth gravy.

I served this delicious artery-clogging dish with a balanced portion of healthy carrot-capsicum sabzi and vitamin infused dill sabji{suva/shepu bhaji}. It goes well with chapatis as this gravy is on the thicker side, but of course, you can adjust the consistency to your palate.

I hope you enjoy cooking and eating/serving this dish.

-RUELHA 
www.ruelha.com 
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