Let’s take a tour to Hyderabad today. Well had an opportunity to visit this city of Nawabi cuisines couple of times. Must admit, everything about Hyderabad is simply marvelous. The city show cases a splendid food culture in every corner. From gullis to mohallas ..from street food to fine dinning, Hyderabad has something special for each and everyone. The cuisine emphasises the use of ingredients that are carefully chosen and cooked to the right degree and time. Utmost attention is given to picking the right kind of spices, meat, and rice. Therefore, an addition of a certain herb, spice, condiment, or a combination of these adds a distinct taste and aroma. The key flavors are of coconut, tamarind, peanuts and sesame seeds which are extensively used in many dishes. The key difference from the North Indian cuisine is the use of dry coconut and tamarind in its cuisine.
Whether it’s Hyderabadi Biryani or Tahri , Naan Qalia or Kalyani Biryani, Mirchi ka Salan or Khubani ka Meetha , Baghare Baigan or Double ka Meetha…each and every dish has it’s own specific flavorful history.
So remembering the wonderful hospitality and food i received in Hyderabad, our last night’s dinner was dedicated to the one and only foodies of the Nawabi City. Made Hyderabadi Murg Korma and teamed it with some butter chapatis and a very humble zeera rice with veg raita. There is a saying in Hyderabad, cooking patiently or itmenaan se is the key; slow-cooking is the hallmark of Hyderabadi cuisine. The Murg Korma presented here is also cooked in low flame, that makes the chicken tender and retain it’s juice. By slow cooking the flavors perfectly blend together and get inside the fibers of the chicken as well that makes every bite flavorful. In Hyderabadi Murg Korma, marination and slow cooking on low fire are the key techniques. So let’s proceed to the ingredients required followed but the recipe.
Prep Time | 20 minutes |
Cook Time | 45 minutes |
Servings |
serving
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- 1/2 kg Chicken BoneBoneless
- 2 cups curd Thick
- 4 Onion - medium chopped
- 2 tbsp Ginger paste
- 2 tbsp Garlic paste
- 6 - 7 Green chilli - slitted
- 1 1/2 tbsp Red Chilli powder
- 1/2 tbsp Turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp Coriander powder
- 1 tbsp Garam masala (freshly grounded)
- 4 tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 Bay leaf
- 1 inch Cinnamon - stick
- 4 Cloves
- 4 cardamom Green
- 2 cardamom Black
- 4 Black pepper corns
- 1 large pinch Saffron threads
- 1/2 cup Butter
- Salt as needed
- 10 Almonds
- 10 Cashew nuts
- 4 tbsp Poppy seeds
- 3 tbsp coconut Dessicated
Ingredients
For roasted and ground masala :
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- Wash and drain the chicken and keep aside.
- In a skillet dry roast the almonds, cashew nuts , poppy seeds and dessicated coconut. Cool and grind them into a fine paste and keep aside.
- Similarly dry roast the finely chopped onions till golden in color and set to cool. Then grind it to make a fine paste and set aside.
- Now take a large mixing bowl and add chicken with thick curd, ginger paste, garlic paste , red chilli powder , turmeric powder , saffron threads and lemon juice. Mix all together and leave for marinading in refrigerator for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour heat butter in a large wok and add bay leaf. cinnamon stick, green and black cardamom, cloves and pepper corns and let them splutter.
- Now immediately add the marinated chicken mix and give all a nice stir. As the curd has a tendency of leaving water so no need to add extra water to the chicken.
- Add coriander powder and mix all well and let the chicken cook/bhuno in low flame till the butter starts oozing out from the sides of the wok.
- Once the water released from the curd starts evaporating add roasted onion paste, adjust salt and mix together. Also add the grounded almond, cashew nuts, poppy seeds and dessicated coconut. Give a nice stir to the entire chicken and allow it to cook in slow flame. Do not keep the flames high as it may burn the masala. Keep adding lil water from the sides if you see the masala sticking to the wok.
- The entire chicken cooking process may take 20-25mins. You can even adjust butter/oil from sides if needed as the korma should have a good amount of oil draining out.
- Once the chicken is cooked and tender remove the wok from heat and garnish with finely chopped mint and coriander.
- Serve hot with Naan , Chapatis, Plain rice or even Biryani !!!
[Note : Always add salt when the curd water is evaporated. If added before it may taste high later.]