Murgh Musallam Recipe | How to Cook Murgh Musallam At Home

Murgh Musallam is a great recipe that you can actually cook at home and feel good about it. The fact that you have to cook a whole chicken in gravy can sound overwhelming but is definitely doable.

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I have cooked murgh musallam only twice. The first time was in 2017 when I was challenged by a senior colleague at office.

Not so great pics, I know! The last was a few days ago when friends and colleagues wanted to taste the dish for dinner.

And both time, it came our pretty good.

Murgh musallam is a Mughlai dish that is rich in the ingredients used. Traditionally, the chicken is stuffed with minced meat (mutton) and boiled eggs and cooked in a rich onion-tomato-cashew-poppy-seeds gravy.

I have used minced chicken because not every one eats mutton. You can use minced mutton.

How to Cook Murgh Musallam – Step by Step Recipe

The entire process of serving deliciousness on plate can be categorized into four phases. We will discuss each one of them in details below.

Please note that the main step has been highlighted, however, I would suggest that you read through for the finest details that will make your dish stand out.

Step 1: Buy the Right Chicken and Preparing for the Murgh Musallam

Buy a small chicken (dressed) weighing less than 1.2 kg. Ask your butcher to properly clean it before packing it for you.

You should refrain from buying a chicken that weighs more than 1.2 kg. Your best choice would be to get a dressed chicken that weighs between 800 gram to 1 kg chicken.

Also you need to get around 250 grams of minced chicken. Most butchers do not mince chicken meat like you would want him to.

In that case, you can wash and get it minced using a grinder at home. I tried it myself and got excellent results.

Once you have washed the whole chicken, you should brine it for a minimum of 4 to 6 hours. This is how you brine the chicken.

• Take a bowl and add sufficient water to it to immerse the whole chicken breast down
• Add 2-3 spoons of salt to it and give it a brisk stir
• Add a pinch of sugar
• Carefully put the chicken in it and cover the bowl
• Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours

Take equal portions of sesame seeds, poppy seeds and double of cashew nuts and dry roast each separately. Be careful to not burn the seeds/nuts. It is recommended to keep the flame low during this process.

Grind the sesame seeds, poppy seeds and half of the cashew nuts to a fine powder/paste and keep aside.

Chop ginger and garlic.

Soak kashmiri red chilies in water for a couple of hours. I prefer using Byadgi chilies for their flavor and brighter color. Grind the chilies to a fine paste along with ginger and garlic.

If you are running short of time, boil water and soak the chilies for 15 minutes. When you grind to a fine paste, you get the same result. This is what I do mostly.

Next you have to cut the onions in slices and keep aside.

Boil the eggs.

Chop the green chilies and tomatoes and keep ready.

Step 2: Cook the Minced Meat & Stuff the Chicken

This process involves cooking the keema (minced meat) and stuffing it in the chicken and tying it up.

Put some oil in the kadai, and once hot drop in the onions. Cook till golden brown and add the red-chili-ginger-garlic paste to it.

Cook till the raw flavor has disappeared and add in the cumin powder and coriander powder. Continue cooking till the spices are cooked. If required, you can splash in some water to avoid the spices from getting burnt.

Add in the minced chicken, salt, green chilies and continue to cook till the meat is completely cooked. Add in water if required and separate.

Allow this to cool.

Proceed to stuff the chicken with the keema, cashews and raisins. Tie the chicken in such a way that ensures that the stuffing does not come out while cooking the chicken in the gravy.

You should use a cotton thread that is thick enough. In Eastern India we get these at our local ‘dashakarma bhandar’ or a shop that sells puja items.

There are several ways to truss a chicken. You can also follow the masterclass website to truss a chicken.

The most convenient method is to take the thread halfway and put it under the neck, get it above the wings. Using your hands push up both the legs of the chicken in such a way that they form a wall to prevent the stuffing from coming out and tie the thread properly.

Keep it aside.

Step 3: Cook the Murgh Musallam Gravy

This is more or less how you would cook a normal chicken gravy, only that this has more ingredients and might take a longer cooking time.

You start off by heating the oil and gently warming the whole spices that help to flavor the oil before pushing in the cumin seeds and sliced onions.

You allow the sliced onions to gain a brown color and proceed to add in the red-chili-ginger-garlic paste. Allow this to cook till the raw smell disappears.

Add in the cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder. Add tomatoes. Stir and continue to cook the spices. Add water if required.

Add curd and cook.

Once this is cooked, add in the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and cashew nuts paste and stir briskly to avoid the spice mixture from sticking to the bottom of the kadai. Do add a splash of water if required.

Add water once the mixture starts releasing oil. Remember that the chicken will release water once you add it to the gravy. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add salt and sugar.

Add the green chilies and simmer for a few minutes.

Step 4: Cook the Whole Chicken in Gravy & Serve

Now that your gravy is ready, we move on to the last step of the dish.

Carefully place the chicken in the gravy to avoid the hot gravy from splashing and injuring you. Ensure that the breast is faced down.

With a spoon or spatula, pick up some of the gravy and put it on the top of the chicken. This is called basting.

You will also need to rotate the chicken with a spoon or spatula to avoid the gravy from sticking to the kadai and burning. Do this every couple of minutes for 20-25 minutes.

Carefully and slowly invert the chicken so that the breast piece faces upwards. Repeat the same process of basting and rotating the chicken for another 20-25 minutes till the chicken is done.

You can use a fork or toothpick to check if the chicken is cooked.

Once done, you can place the chicken on the serving plate and untie the ropes using a scissor. Cut into pieces and serve your guests.

The entire recipe is listed as follows –

Ending Notes

This is one recipe that you can get correct easily if you follow the steps. This is also one of the few recipes that will make you feel good about your cooking skills, thanks to the whole chicken that you will cook at one go.

Do give it a try for a Sunday lunch or a weekend dinner when you have guests coming over. You will only earn accolades, I bet!