Last time I went to a friend’s house for dinner and her mom served me an exotic spicy chicken dish and I really fell in love with it. I came back home and next day tried it myself and believe me it is one different exotic way to cook chicken. I want to call it hariyali murg (Green Chicken because it is cooked in the authentic style of gravy by combining all the greeny things like cilantro, green chillies and mint leaves.
A fine paste of these flavours gives a rich and green twist to the chicken. Hariyali chicken is one of the most famous recipes of North India, but this time I made it in a little more Bengali style of cooking (as I mentioned before, learnt it from my friend’s mom who is a bengali)… and it is generally served with Indian Breads. But at my friend’s home they served it with Bengali Sweet Pulao / Rice.
Some people like to cook it with boneless chicken, where as I personally like to use the whole chicken for this. In whatever way, it is a very tasty finger licking Chicken dish.
You can have this dish in majority of Indian Dhabas (Diner) in north India. There they cook it in large quantities using a pretty huge pan… and the flavour & aroma of it while it’s cooking can be really be sensed very easily while passing by the dhaba on the highway.
Let’s see how to make restaurant style Hariyali Murg at home.
| Tip: I feel personally to use the Chicken with bones (whole chicken) to get a better taste. |
| Tip: You can add lemon juice if needed for a tangy flavor. |
| Tip: If you marinate the chicken with 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste, salt,turmeric powder and 2-3 tbsp of thick yoghurt it will give a much richer taste. |
Ingredients for Hariyali Murg
- 1 kg whole chicken
- 4 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion
- 1½ teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Chicken Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- Salt – to taste
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon Jeera (Cumin seeds)
For green flavouring
- 1 cup Mint Leaves
- 1 cup Coriander /cilantro Leaves
- 6 – 7 Green Chilli
Method
- Separate the leaves of Mint and Coriander. Grind them together with Green Chilli to a fine paste.
- Chop the Onion and meanwhile marinade chicken with 2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder and 2-3 tablespoon of thick yogurt and keep aside for an hour.
- In a non-stick pan add oil, when hot add jeera (Cumin seeds). When it splutters, add the chopped Onion.
- When the Onion becomes golden brown, add Ginger Garlic Paste and fry till the raw smell leaves. Add a pinch of sugar also. Add the ground Green paste and fry for 2-3 min.
- Add marinated Chicken, Garam Masala powder, Chicken Masala powder, Red Chili powder, Coriander powder and Salt. Fry for 2 min. Add the water and close the pan with lid. Check for salt. Stir often to avoid the burn. Cook till the Chicken is cooked and oil separates.
- Serve hot with your favourite Indian bread or rice
Content image credit: mallikabasu.com
