A fancy whole chicken roast stuffed with boiled eggs, tomatoes, dried plums, mint and coriander. It is braised after being flavoured with a tandoori marinade. This Mughal inspired dish is the perfect addition to any special occasion.
Murgh Musallam literally translates to 'whole chicken'. It's a dish from the Mughal cuisine, and Mughal dishes are always very extravagant and decadent. This whole chicken is traditionally stuffed with nuts and raisins and then cooked in a spicy South-Asian style gravy. Saffron is also used for flavour and colour. But over the years there have been so many variations. Some people stuff mince into it, some use eggs, some nuts and khoya, some rice and some also roast it without stuffing. Either way it results in a juicy, mouth-watering chicken roast that is perfect to jazz up any menu.
MY VERSION OF MURGH MUSALLAM
- To simplify the steps and ingredients I am using a ready-made Tandoori spice mix mixed with yogurt, salt and chili to marinate the chicken. The food colour is totally optional. It is mainly for presentation.
- For the stuffing I used boiled eggs, tomatoes, dried plums, bell pepper, mint, coriander and chilies. There are so many variations of stuffing so you can use whatever appeals to you.
- For the gravy, I just use the leftover marinade with some yogurt. Some people also make a separate gravy from scratch using onions and tomatoes. In my version, I just prefer a little bit of masala rather than the chicken swimming in a bowl of gravy.
- I like decorating the chicken with some additional boiled eggs, red onions, lemon wedges and tomato slices.
ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR COOKING
- Make deep cuts on the chicken so that the marinade penetrates inside and leave it overnight. This results in a juicier more flavourful chicken.
- It is not mandatory to tie the legs but overall the chicken looks better visually if you do.
- You can bake or fry the chicken whatever is more convenient for you. You can also fry the chicken first for colour and then continue baking. Or if you want to use minimum oil then bake and broil it at the end.
- The chicken can take about 40-60 mins to cook properly. You can check by inserting a butter knife.
Murgh Musallam
Yield: 3-4
This Mughal-style whole chicken is flavoured with a Tandoori marinade and stuffed with boiled eggs, dried plums, tomatoes, mint and coriander.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg)
- 3/4 cup oil
- 3-4 tbsp yogurt
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 10-12 dried plums
- 3-4 green/red chilies
- 1 small tomato, sliced
- 1/2 bell pepper, chopped (optional)
- 1 small onion, sliced and browned
- handful of mint, chopped
- handful of coriander, chopped
FOR THE MARINADE
- 1 cup yogurt
- 3 tbsp tandoori spice mix
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp orange colour (optional)
Instructions:
How to cook Murgh Musallam
- Make deep cuts on the chicken.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together and rub it well inside the cuts, in the cavity and all around very well. Leave it to marinate overnight for optimum flavour otherwise at least 3-4 hours.
- Insert 1 boiled egg into the cavity of the chicken followed by 5-6 dried plums, 1/2 sliced tomato, 2 chilies, some bell pepper and few leaves of coriander and mint. Close the cavity with toothpicks.
- With a regular thread or kitchen twine tie the chicken legs together.
- Heat oil in a big pan. Fry the chicken on medium high heat till golden on all sides. Sprinkle some paprika powder before turning for colour.
- After around 10 mins of frying, add the leftover marinade, 1/2 cup of water and 3-4 tbsp yogurt. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for 40-50 mins until the chicken is cooked through. Make sure you turn over in between so that the chicken attains even colour.
- Near the end, in the gravy add brown onions, leftover dried plums, tomatoes, bell pepper, chilies, coriander and mint. Let it cook for another 5 mins and then put in a serving plate.
- Decorate with sliced boiled eggs, red onion rings and lemon wedges.
- Serve with rice or naan and enjoy!
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