Methi Malai Murgh

A couple of years back we had gone to a restaurant called More Than Parathas here in Bangalore and had sampled a dish with methi and chicken. I remember this dish as this was the first time I had sampled this combination and it was really good compared to all the other dishes we ordered. Sometime after that I saw a recipe for methi malai murgh in a Sanjeev Kapoor book I had at home and tried it and it was yum. This is not an everyday recipe as it is very rich due to the use of malai.

I made it again a couple of days ago when we had guests and it was a hit. Here I am giving Sanjeev Kapoors recipe but with the proportions I used. These proportions are good for about 8 people. 

Ingredients

1 kilo of chicken on the bone,

3 cups of packed methi leaves,

2 large onions,

2 tbsps ginger paste,

1 tbsp garlic paste,

5-6 green chillies or to your taste,

1 cup well beaten curds,

15-20 cashewnuts,

Salt to taste,

3 tbsps oil,

1 tsp shahjeera,

1 inch of cinnamon,

4-5 cloves,

8-10 peppercorns,

1 cup malai

Method

Boil some water and add the washed methi leaves. Retain it in the boiling water for two minutes and then drain it out. Refresh it in cold water and chop finely.

Grind the onion, ginger paste, garlic paste and green chillies into a fine paste.

Soak the cashewnuts in water for about half an hour and grind that also into a fine paste.

Marinate the chicken in a marinade of the onion-ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, salt and curds for about half an hour.

Heat a tbsp of oil and add the shahjeera, after half a minute add the methi leaves and fry for about two minutes. Keep aside.

Heat the remaining oil and add the whole spices, when they crackle add the marinated chicken and mix well. Next add the cashewnut paste with about a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cook till the chicken is almost done. Adjust seasoning. Now add the fried methi leaves and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Check if the chicken is done and fold in the malai. Switch off the heat.

Serve hot with rotis.