Murg-e-Nawabi

Murg-e-Nawabi

Another nawabi preparation. 

Nawabi means rich and the richness of the dish comes from almonds, cashews and cream. The royals sure knew how to eat and have a good time. 

The khansamas or royal cooks must have had a tough time head scratching and coming up with new dishes all the time. The use of rich aromatic spices and dry fruits added that extra element to each dish. 

I have a few books on Mughlai cuisine and in each recipe I found that the dishes had spices like cinnamon, cardamom, saffron etc. dry fruits like cashews, pistachios, pine nuts, cashews were used in abundance. Ghee added the fragrance. All in all each dish is a rhapsody of flavour and taste.

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut in to pieces

2 onions, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

3 garlic pods, chopped

1 “ ginger chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 green cardamoms, small piece of cinnamon

2 tbsp coriander powder

 1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric powder

 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Salt to taste

½ cup cream

Apply some salt on the chicken pieces and keep aside.

Blanch the cashews and almonds. Skin the almonds.

Heat some oil. Add the garlic and ginger and saute. 

Add the onions and cook till translucent. 

Add the tomatoes and cook some more. 

Add the cashews and almonds and fry for some time. 

Take off the heat, Cool and then grind the whole mix to a paste.

Heat some more oil. Add the whole spices. Now add the chopped onions and cook till pink and translucent. 

Add the dry masalas and sprinkle a little water. Sauté the masalas well. 

Add the onion-cashew-almond paste and fry some more. Now add the chicken pieces and fry on high flame. Cook till the chicken is well coated with the masala. 

Add a cup of water, bring to a boil, cover and cook till the chicken is done. Check the seasoning. 

Switch off heat and add the cream. Garnish with some roasted cashews.

Murg-e-taaus

Murg-e-taaus

Another Mughlai Dish!

When the Mughals came to India they brought with them the culinary cultures of the countries they had been to such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, etc. 

As a result the food culture that evolved was a combination of Indian, Persian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Nuts, raisins and saffron were liberally used to make the dishes exotic and suitable for the Royal palette.

Murg-e-taaus means Royal Chicken. However the word in Urdu has a more romantic and exotic tinge to it. Just like the dish itself! There are very few masalas used in the dish and the richness comes from the use of dry fruits.

Ingredients

For the marinade

1 chicken, cut into pieces

1 cup yogurt

Salt to taste

Khada masala

2 green cardamoms

2 black cardamoms

4 cloves

1 “cinnamon

For paste

½ cup almonds

¼ cup poppy seeds

3 tbsp char magaz/melon seeds

2 onions. Chopped

1” ginger, chopped

1 tsp white pepper powder

½ tsp turmeric

Few strands soaked in 2 tbsp milk

¼ tsp cardamom powder

¼ tsp mace/javitri powder

Marinate the chicken with yogurt and salt for about 2-3 hours.

Make a paste of the dry fruits using a little water.

Heat some ghee. Add the khada masala. Add the onion and ginger and saute. 

Once the onions become translucent then add the chicken pieces and fry on high heat. 

Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the dry fruits paste, turmeric powder and white pepper powder. 

Check the seasoning. Add ½ cup water, cover and simmer till the chicken is cooked. 

Add the soaked saffron, cardamom powder and javitri powder.

Murg Dilruba

Murg Dilruba

Unusual name for a chicken dish but it is so apt for the one I cooked it for. By now most of my friends and acquaintances are well aware of my son’s absolute and complete love for chicken. 
It is all that he ever wants to eat. A meal without chicken is no meal at all according to him. So I have to sneak in all the vegetables into the chicken dish. Also it poses a challenge for me to come up with something new in terms of preparation. I, myself, will get bored cooking the same thing over and over again.

We had been travelling for almost more than a moth now. Back home after such a long stint felt good. There is no comparison of home cooked meal. It satisfies both your hunger pangs and your soul. 

As usual there was an insistent demand for chicken and only chicken. I told my son that chicken is his dilruba..one he cant live without. This is how the name came about. Murg Dilruba. A simple and sweet dish (literally because I have used lots of ketchup which impart a slightly sweet flavour). 

Ingredients

800 gm chicken
4 large red tomatoes
2 onions, quartered
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 garlic pods
½ “ ginger
3 green chillies
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri Red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 cup cream
1 cup milksalt to taste
a pinch of sugar

Quarter the onions and tomatoes and put them to boil in 2 cups of water. Boil for 5-7 minutes. Once cool, peel the tomatoes and then make a paste of the onions and tomatoes. 

Pound together the ginger, garlic and green chillies to a coarse paste. Heat some oil. Add bay leaf and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start spluttering add the ground ginger garlic paste. Stir for a minute and add the tomato-onion paste. Fry on medium heat till the water evaporates and the oil starts leaving the sides. 
Now add all the dry masalas and bhuno for some time. Add the ketchup and mix well. Add the chicken pieces and fry on high flame for 10 minutes. Add the salt and sugar. The chicken pieces should be well coated with the masala. 
Add half a cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook til almost done. Add the milk slowly, stirring all the time. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Check the seasoning. Switch off the gas and mix in the cream. 

Mughlai Chicken

Mughlai Chicken

God bless Mughlai cuisine!! We have friends over very frequently and it is a head scratching exercise to make something different every time. Mughlai cuisine is always my fall back food because you just can’t go wrong with it. The use of spices and accompanied by cream and almonds and cashews..everything makes the food super delicious. 

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into pieces

Marinade in

1 cup hung curd
1 tbsp tandoori masala ( I use homemade tandoori masala)
Salt to taste
2 tbsp kasuri methi
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

For the gravy

 2 Onions, minced
2 tomatoes, minced
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
4 tbsp tomato puree
½ tsp shah jeera
1 tej patta
4 cloves
3 green cardamoms
2 black cardamoms
1 star anise
1 tsp peppercorns
½ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup almonds, ground to a powder
½ cup cashews, made into a paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 cup milk
3 tbsp cream

Marinate the chicken in the marinade ingredients for 2 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cook the chicken for 15 minutes. Keep aside.

Heat some ghee. Add the shah jeera, tej patta, cloves, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, star anise and peppercorns. 
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry a bit. Now add the minced onion. Cook till it starts looking dry. 
Add the minced tomato and tomato puree. Cook till the oil separates. 
Now add the turmeric powder, nutmeg powder and the garam masala. Fry for a minute and add the almond powder, desiccated coconut and cashew paste. Fry for a minute or two. 
Add the chicken pieces and fry well till the masala coats the chicken well. 
Add the milk slowly and simmer. You can add some water if you want more gravy. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cream and take off heat.