MURGH AWADHI KORMA

11:04 PM

India is the land of several delicious delicacies and today many cuisines of Indian food are popular especially the Royal Cuisines which has made Indian food highly popular in the West and South Eastern regions of the globe. One such cuisine is the Awadhi Cuisine – a unique offering from the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. This unique cuisine originated from Awadh- a part of Uttar Pradesh. Today, it is still popular as it was in the ancient periods when the Royals ruled India. The cooking procedure of the Awadhi Cuisine in Lucknow is similar to those in Central Asia, Northern India and Central-South Asia.

Korma is the technique of braising meat in velvety, spiced sauces, enriched with ground nuts, cream and butter. While kormas are rich, they are also mild, containing little or no chilies. There are both vegetarian (Navratan korma) and non-vegetarian(chicken, lamb, beef & fish korma) varieties of korma. Murgh Awadhi Korma is a classic dish from Lucknow. This recipe I have adopted from Indian Master Chef Harjeet Kumar , a brilliant chef with awesome talent. Due to non availability of certain ingredients I have skipped them..However. it hardly affects the taste and the flavour what I got had awesome taste.

Murg Awadhi Korma

5 tbsp ghee/oil
1/2 tsp- black cumin
1 no- bay leaf
1inch - cinnamon
5gms- stone flower( I skipped this one as I donot have it with me)
5 no- green cardamom
5 no - cloves
2 tblsp- ginger garlic paste
500gms - chicken boneless ( thigh)…Though I have used chicken with bones
Salt to taste
1 tsp- turmeric
1 tsp - red chilli powder
1/2 tsp- yellow chilly powder( I skipped this due to non availability )
2 tsp- coriander powder
200 ml - yogurt
5 tblsp- brown onion paste (fry 3-4 onions till brown and make a paste with water)
3 tblsp- brown cashew paste( fry the cashews and make a paste with water)
2 tbsp Amul Cream( Not in the original recipe as i like my korma to be a little sweet i have used the Cream, but if u do not like u can skip this step.)
1 tsp- saffron in 1 tbsp milk
50 ml Keora water
a few coriander leaves for garnishing

Lets learn how to do it

Wash the chicken and keep aside.

Soak the saffron in the warm milk.

Fry the onions till brown. Let it cool and then grind it to a fine paste and keep aside.

Fry the cashew nuts and then grind it to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan , add black cumin, bay leaf , cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. When they crackle add ginger garlic paste.

Cook for 2 mins and add chicken and cook for another 5 mins. Add turmeric, red chilli powder , coriander powder, salt and cook with little water in between till oil surfaces.

Once done, add whisked yogurt and keep stirring till you reduce the yogurt.

Add brown onion paste along with some boiling water and cook till the oil surfaces.Stir in the cashew paste and cook under slow flame till chicken is cooked completely .