Murgh musallam is a gourmet dish which was very popular among Mughlai people of Awadh. Murgh means “chicken” and musallam means “whole”, as the name indicates this recipe involves cooking chicken as a whole.
Whole chicken marinated in yogurt then stuffed with either boiled eggs or half cooked rice or sauteed ground meat, then cooked low and slow in a rich and thick gravy made with browned onion, ginger, garlic and freshly prepared spice mixture. And the result is succulent, juicy and fork tender chicken infused with the flavors of creamy, aromatic gravy. The stuffing I used is half cooked rice with carrots, peas, cashews, and raisins. The best part of this stuffing is that the rice absorbs all the succulent flavor of the chicken.
It is said that the Nawabs and other royalty loved this dish and what not to love about as the creamy texture of almond, yogurt, and poppy seeds blend well with the warm cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and saffron.
Awadhi cuisine shows similar flavor pattern as Mughlai cuisine, but the underlying difference of Awadhi cuisine is the style and technique of cooking. The dish in this cuisine is cooked low and slow and also involve marination of meat and also Awadhi cuisine is supposed to be the creator of dum cooking technique.
So, murgh musallam may not be the quickest recipe and it does involve many steps but they are pretty easy and simple to follow and when you get to taste this royal dish, you’ll definitely know why it is totally worth all the effort.
Murgh Musallam / Whole Chicken in Gravy
Course: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium8
servings30
minutes1
hour30
minutes8
hoursMurg musallam is a curry made from whole chicken marinated in yogurt then stuffed with boiled eggs and rice , then cooked low and slow in a rich and thick gravy.
Ingredients
- For Marinations :-
1.3 Kg of whole chicken, skinned and cleaned
1/2 cup of yogurt
1 /2 of lemon
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of chili powder
2 tsp of oil
salt and pepper to taste
- For Stuffing :-
1/4 cup of white rice
1 carrot, peeled and chopped in small cubes
1/4 cup of green peas
1 tsp of oil or ghee
Salt to taste
1/2 Tbsp of Cashews and raisins each
2 boiled eggs (optional)
- To Grind :-
4 green cardamom or 2 black cardamom
1.5 inch of cinnamon stick
6 cloves
6 black peppercorns
1 Tbsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of cumin seeds
Red chili powder to taste
25 almonds
1 Tbsp of poppy seeds
- For Gravy :-
3 medium red onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp of ginger
1 Tbsp of garlic
1/2 cup of whipped yogurt
1/4 tsp of saffron soaked in 2 Tbsp of warm milk
Salt
2-3 Tbsp of oil
Directions
- Clean the chicken and make gashes with a sharp knife around the meat and marinate it with yogurt, lemon juice, turmeric, red chili, oil and salt for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Cook rice in a cup of boiling water with salt until the rice is 60 % percent cooked. Then, strain the rice and discard the water.
- Mix the rice with oil, cubed carrot, peas, cashews, raisins and set it aside.
- Heat a pan and dry roast the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and almonds. After a minute add the coriander, cumin and poppy seeds and roast until it is aromatic.
- Transfer the roasted spices in another bowl and in the same pan heat half of the oil and saute the onions.
- When the onions are about to brown add ginger and garlic paste and saute until the onions are brown and no raw flavor of ginger is there. Then switch off the heat.
- When the onion mixture cools, grind the roasted spices into a fine paste, then add the onion mixture and grind again until semi-smooth.
- Stuff the rice mixture and eggs into the cavity of the chicken and tie its leg tightly with kitchen twine.
- Now in a big pan, add remaining oil and add the ground paste and saute for 5 minutes. Add whipped yogurt and 1/3 cup of water and mix well.
- Place the chicken breast side down and put on the lid and let the gravy comes to a simmer over low heat.
- Then open the lid and swirl the chicken around and coat the upper side of chicken with simmering gravy with the help of the ladle and put on the lid again.
- Repeat the above step in every 6-10 minutes for 50-60 minutes or until the chicken is fully done. Murgh musallam is done.
