This chicken dish is truly royal– whether in taste or by the looks and texture. Compared to other Indian chicken dishes, the cooking process here is a tad more complicated and one needs to spend a significant time in preparation. But the taste of the dish makes it all very worthwhile.
Royal Murgh Masala: Main Ingredients
- Chicken with bones – 1 kg
- Cashew nuts – about 15 pieces
- Popppy seeds – 5 tsp
- Ginger- 25 grams
- Garlic- 8 cloves
- Onion- 2 (medium size)
- Yogurt- 100 grams
- Lemon- 1
- Green Chillies- 6
- Ghee (Clarified butter)- 4 tsp
- White oil- 2 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- White sesame seeds – 2 tsp
- Kasmiri Mirch Powder 3 tsp
- Roasted Chickpeas powder- 4 tsp
- Rose water- 2 tsp
- Keora Water – 1 tsp
- Meetha Aatar– 3 drops
- Sugar- to taste
Ingredients of the Spice Mix
- White pepper – 1 tsp
- Black pepper – 3 tsp
- Cloves- a few
- Shahi Cumin – 1 tsp
- Cinnamon- 1 streak
- Green cardamom- a few pieces
- Mace- small quantity
- Nutmeg- small quantity
- Saffron (original-) a few flakes
- Star anis- 1
Royal Murgh Masala: Recipe
Make the Masala mix first
Roast all spices mentioned in the Masala mix ingredients list on a hot pan. When the roasted mix starts giving off a distinct aroma, turn off the burner, cool off the mixture and then grind well. Once finely ground, put the powdered content in an airtight container to conserve the aroma.
Recipe for the dish
- Wash and dry the chicken, add lemon juice and salt, mix well.
- Soak poppy seeds and almonds in lukewarm water for an hour.
- Marination medium: Make a paste chopped onions, green chill, ginger and garlic in a mixy
- Make a fine paste of soaked poppy seeds, soaked cashew nuts, sesame seeds and yoghurt in a mixy
- Soak Saffron in lukewarm milk.
Marination
Add chicken to the marination medium (point 3). Add Kashmiri Mirch powder, salt, sugar, the whole contents of Masala Mix, roasted chickpeas powder, Rosewater, Keora Water and Meetha Aattar to the marination mix and put in a refrigerator for 4 hours. Don’t forget to take the marinade out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking it.
Cooking
Heat the Ghee and white oil together in a frying pan till the former melts completely and gives off the distinct smell of burnt butter. Add the chicken marinade now.
Now soft-stir marinade with a spatula for 2-3 minutes and put on the pan’s lid- do this alternately for about 45 minutes on a low flame. If needed, a little bit of water can be added to ease the mixture.
Continue the above process till oil starts separating from the mixture. Now add the Saffron-soaked milk into it. Put on the lid, stir with a spatula for a minute and then turn off the burner.
This dish tastes divine with a delicate harmony of the spices used. Serve it with Basmati rice or hand-rolled pieces of bread.
