Murgh Musallam (Indian Stewed Spiced Chicken)
Ingredients
Chicken
- 600 g chicken
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp red chile powder
- ¼ tsp pepper powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp salt
Spice blend
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2-inch piece cinnamon
- 2 green cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg (jayaphala)
- 1 medium mace javitri
- 1 black cardamom (moti elachi)
Curry
- 8 almonds
- 10 cashews or 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 cups (2 ea.) chopped onions
- 1 large tomato, puréed
- 4 slit green chiles
- 4 tbsp oil or ghee
- 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chile powder (use more if required)
- 2 tbsp chopped mint leaves
- 2–3 cups water
- Salt to taste
Steps
Chicken
- Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Wash well.
- Marinate chicken with remaining ingredients 1–4 hours.
Spice blend
- Dry roast all ingredients until light brown and aromatic.
- Cool. Grind into coarse powder.
Curry
- Soak almonds and cashews in water 10–15 minutes. Peel almonds.
- Grind almonds and cashews into smooth paste. Add 1–2 tbsp water if required.
- Heat 2–3 tsp oil in pan or wok. Sauté chopped onion until golden brown. Cool. Grind into paste, adding as little water as possible.
- Heat oil or ghee in pan or wok. Add onion paste, green chili and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté until onion paste leaves oil.
- Add marinated chicken. Mix well. Cover. Cook 5–6 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Mix in red chili powder, spice blend and tomato puree. Cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until oil floats on surface.
- Add water. Cook 3–4 minutes over medium heat.
- Mix in nut paste, mint and salt. Cook until gravy is thick and oil floats.
- Remove from heat. Stir in coriander leaves.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Murgh Musallam (Indian Stewed Spiced Chicken)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-08-21, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.






