Indore is known to be the food capital of India and for all the right reasons. In this article, we bring you traditional chicken recipes straight from the food haven — Indore.
1. Khobani Murgh
This is one of the most exotic chicken recipes that combines chicken with dried apricots and aromatic spices will surely to win you accolades.
Serves: 4-6
Cooking time: 45-55 minutes
Ingredients:
125 gm dried apricots, halved and stoned
¼ tsp saffron, crushed and soaked in a few tablespoons of hot milk
Salt, to taste
2 small cardamoms, crushed
1 stick cinnamon
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, sliced
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons ghee
3 green chillies, or to taste, chopped
½” piece of ginger
1 chicken, weighing about 900 g to 1 kg, cleaned
Method:
- Grind chillies, ginger, and garlic with a few teaspoons of water to a fine paste using a grinder.
- Saute onions in ghee until light golden in the pressure cooker. Add the chilli-ginger-garlic paste and fry well.
- Add salt, cardamoms, cinnamon, tomatoes along with the chicken. Stir over gentle heat for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is half-cooked. Add ½ cup of water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes till the chicken is three quarters done.
- Add saffron and apricots. Cook till the chicken is done. The apricots should become soft but not mashed. Serve immediately.
2. Shahi Murgh
The use of saffron, cardamoms, curds and almonds makes this a truly royal recipe.
Serves: 4-6
Cooking time: 80-90 minutes
Ingredients:
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp ruh kewra or a few drops of kewra essence
⅛ tsp saffron
3 green cardamoms, crushed
8-10 cloves garlic, ground with 1 teaspoon water
230 g cruds, lightly beaten
¾ tsp turmeric powder
10 peppercorns
6 cloves
2 – 2 ½ tsp salt
1 chicken, weighing 700 g, cleaned and dressed
1 tsp red chilli powder
15 almonds
3 tsp coriander seeds
2 onions sliced + 1 grated
9 tbsp ghee
To garnish:
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Method:
- Saute sliced onions in the pressure cooker rill they are golden brown. Remove from ghee, cool and crush. Put aside the remaining ghee.
- Roast almonds and coriander seeds on a tawa and grind with a few teaspoons fo water. Also, grind garlic.
- Reheat the ghee. Fry grated onions until golden brown. Add the red chilli powder and coriander-almond paste. Fry on a low flame till the mixture turns brown. Add the chicken, a few pieces at a time and fry till browned.
- Mix in turmeric, peppercorns, cloves and salt. Add the curds to the chicken slowly, till it is all used up. Add the ground garlic. Continue frying till all the moisture is absorbed. Add some water before closing the pressure cooker. At maximum pressure, lower the heat and keep on fire for another 3-4 minutes. Allow pressure to drop.
- Open the pressure cooker and add the cardamoms (roughly crushed), crushed fried onions, crushed kewra and saffron. Transfer the chicken into an ovenproof dish and place in the oven preheated to 120°C for 10 minutes.
- Serve sprinkled with garam masala and coriander leaves.
3. Bohri Murgh
Chicken, marinated overnight in curds and spices, then fried crisp an egg and rice flour batter. This is of those chicken recipes that tastes as good as it sounds.
Serves: 6-8
Cooking time: 65-75
Ingredients:
½ tsp pepper
2 tbsp salt
¾ cup cruds, lightly beaten
5 green chillies or to taste
2 tbsp lemon juice
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2” piece ginger
Oil for frying
2 chickens, each weighing 900 g
To prepare the batter:
2 tsp chilli powder or to taste
Salt, to taste
½ cup of rice flour
4 tbsp gram flour
8 eggs
Method:
- For the marinade put chillies, lemon juice, coriander, cumin, ginger, garlic and onion into the grinder. Grind until smooth. Stir into the curds with salt and pepper.
- Prick each piece of chicken with a fork. Rub int marinade, pouring the excess over. Set aside overnight, int he refrigerator.
- Lay a piece of foil over the base fo the cooker. Add the chicken and cover tightly with another piece of foil. Switch the cooker on. When it switches to keep warm mode, which will happen 35-45 minutes, take out the chicken.
- Before serving, mix together all the ingredients for the batter. Coat each piece of chicken with it and drop the piece into the hot oil, in a pressure pan. Do one piece at a time, till it is golden brown and crisp on both sides. Serve hot.
4. Dahi Methi Murgh
A simply delicious blending flavours enhanced by fenugreek. Try this chicken recipe when you want to cook chicken in a simple yet special way.
Serves: 4-5
Cooking time: 70 minutes
Ingredients:
½ lemon
Salt, to taste
2 tsp oil
1 ½ tsp dried fenugreek leaves
1 cup curds, lightly beaten
2” piece of ginger
Green or red chillies, lightly beaten + extra green chillies
7-8 cloves garlic
1 chicken, 900 grams, jointed and cleaned
Method:
- Thoroughly wash the chicken and pierce the skin with a fork.
- In the mixer grinder, grind chillies, ginger and garlic to a smooth paste. You may add a teaspoon or two of curds. When the mixture is smooth, add the rest of the curds and blend for a few more seconds. Remove it from the jar and pour into a bowl.
- To the curds, add salt, oil and fenugreek. Stir well.
- Add the chicken pieces and marinade well. Cover and set aside for at least a couple of hours or overnight if possible.
- About an hour before you are ready to eat, line the base of the cooker with a foil. Gently put in the marinated chicken and cover tightly with more foil and switch on the cooker. Cook the chicken for 40 minutes. Leave it in for another 15-20 minutes to allow the oil to separate and the pieces to get lightly fried.
- Serve the chicken out onto a flat dish. Squeeze the lemon juice over it and garnish with green chillies.
Note: The look of this dish will differ slightly depending on whether you use green chillies or the red. If you enjoy chillies, put in red ones generously to get a rosier result!
5. Murgh Dhakai Korma
Unbelievably simple yet so full of flavour, this succulent chicken, in a silky smooth sauce, is one of Indore’s specialities.
Serves: 6-8
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Ingredients:
1 lemon
1 stick cinnamon
6 green cardamoms, pounded
2 bay leaves
5 tsp ghee
2 tsp salt
1 cup sweet curds (you can also use Mishti Doi or you can substitute it with ordinary curds + 1 tablespoon sugar)
25 raisins
5 almonds
5 cashew nuts
4 onions
5 cloves garlic
1 ½” piece ginger
1 ½ kg chicken, cleaned and jointed
Method:
- Grind onions, garlic and ginger and then grind raisins and nuts separately.
- Smear the chicken with the salt, curds and the ground onion paste.
- Heat the ghee in a karahi. Temper with cinnamon, cardamom, and bay leaves. Add the masala and the chicken. Lower the heat once it comes to a boil, stir, cover and cook till the chicken is tender and the ghee rises to the surface. This should take about 40 minutes.
- Add the nut paste and lemon juice. Stir in, simmer for a minute and remove from fire. Serve piping hot.
Related Article: Easy Chicken Recipes in a Bowl
