Murgh Musallam

 Murgh musallam, a droolworthy and catchy chicken curry from Awadhi cuisine..The word Musallam means “whole” and Murgh means “chicken” is a rich creamy dish chicken dish which is quite famous from Awadhi Cuisine.  The dish has derived its name through the process of cooking whole chicken in a creamy sauce and an interesting combination of spices that result in a rich succulent dish that is mildly spicy and tastes amazing when paired up with plain cooked basmati rice, pulao or as a side to go with rotis. I used chicken pieces instead of whole chicken but the taste was delicious.The colour of the dish itself says how delicious this chicken curry would have tasted na, yep we enjoyed having this delectable murgh musallam with rice for our sunday's lunch and with rotis for dinner...One more delicious chicken curry to try and this curry is quite different from our usual chicken gravies...Eventhough the cooking process and the ingredients lists seems very long, this murgh musallam tastes truly soooo delicious, its really worth to try this dish..Sending to Sameena's Chicken Recipes and to Celebrating Regional Cuisine by Sujana..




1kg Chickens (cut as medium spices)
3nos Onions (big & chopped)
2nos Tomatoes (juicy & ripened,pureed)
2nos Garlic pods (chopped)
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
Salt
Oil
Chopped coriander leaves
15nos Almonds (soaked in hot water)
2nos Bayleaves
1tsp Shahjeera

To Grind:
1tsp Pepper corns
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1no Cinnamon stick
2nos Cloves
1no Cardamom

For Marination:
1+1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
4nos Crushed green chillies
3/4cup Yogurt
1+1/2tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
Salt

Mix all the ingredients for marination,add cleaned chicken pieces to the mixture. Cover and let it marinate atleast for half an hour..

Dry roast the spices mentioned under 'to grind' on low flame till nice aroma comes out. Cool, grind to fine powder and set aside. Now grind the almonds with water to make into smooth paste,keep aside.Heat enough oil in a pan, add chopped garlic, chopped onions, and turmeric powder. Fry on medium flame for around 8 - 10 mts till the onions turn soft and light golden brown in color. Remove the onions, let it cool and grind to smooth paste.

In the same vessel, heat some oil, add the marinated chicken pieces in the oil without the marination. Fry on high heat for about 5-7minutes till the chicken pieces turn lightly brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.

In another vessel, heat few drops of oil, fry the bayleaves,shahjeera until they turns brown, add the onion paste, tomato puree, red chilli powder,a cup of water and cook on medium flame for about 5 minutes.Add the fried chicken pieces, left over marination,almond paste, and mix well. Add again enough water and cook covered on low flame until the chicken turns soft and the gravy turns slightly thick..

Finally add freshly chopped coriander leaves to the gravy.Serve hot with cooked basmati rice, biryani, pulao or rotis.