Murgh Choley is a Punjabi cuisine delicacy popular for its tangy spicy tomato based gravy. I took the recipe from my mother who tried this dish at a friends house and made it at home and we fell in love with it. Later I tweaked it to fit my family’s preference. It wasn’t something we grew up eating honestly, it wasn’t until after we moved to the States that we started cooking Pakistani food that was more popular outside of the Karachi where I grew up.
Details
4 People
15 minutes
30 minutes
45 minutes
Murgh Cholay (Chicken Chickpea Curry)
4
servings15
minutes30
minutes45
minutesChicken and chick peas cooked together in a tomato based curry.
Murgh Choley (Chicken Chickpea Curry)
Ingredients
8 pcs bone-in Chicken
1 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp crushed pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp roasted cumin and coriander powder
salt to taste
1/2 cup fried onions
2 medium tomatoes
1 can low sodium chickpeas
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup water
1/2 tsp chaat masala
cilantro for garnish
MURGH CHOLEY (CHICKEN CHICKPEA CURRY)
Directions
- Heat oil in a skillet, to this add finely diced onions.
- Once the onions are golden brown, add the chicken to the skillet. Brown the chicken on both sides.
- Now add ginger and garlic to the the chicken and mix well.
- Season the chicken with salt, crushed pepper, paprika, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, roasted cumin and coriander powder. Mix well!
- Now add the tomatoes to the skillet, mix, put the flame on high, cover the skillet to steam cook the tomatoes for 3 to 5 minutes.
- At this point add your chickpeas and lemon juice and stir to combine. Now add 1 cup water to make the gravy.
- Cover the pot and cook on medium high for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Check on the gravy, if its your desired consistency, turn off the flame. Sprinkle it with some chaat masala and garnish with cilantro.
- Your gravy is ready!
- Serve it with steamed rice or roti and salad.
- MURGH CHOLEY (CHICKEN CHICKPEA CURRY)
- TIPS
- Most important step to achieve a solid gravy base is the perfect browning of the onions. If you nail this step you will always end up with the best gravy. Make sure your onion are golden brown, slightly crispy before you add your chicken.
- Make sure to use fresh ginger garlic whenever you can.
- If you leave your tomatoes in big quarters, add them to your gravy and steam them, the skin will come right off and you can pick the tomato skin out of the gravy.
- The process of burning excess water out of the gravy is called “bhunna” (bhun-n-na) which is very critical in south Asian cuisine. When you burn the excess water out of the gravy which is very critical and one the most important finishing touches to your gravy. You have to be very careful while you are doing that so you don’t end up burning your gravy.
- The gravy is finished when you see the oil and water separate from each other and oil starts to surface around the skillet.
- MURGH CHOLEY (CHICKEN CHICKPEA GRAVY)
DIRECTIONS - Heat oil in a skillet, to this add finely diced onions.
- Once the onions are golden brown, add the chicken to the skillet. Brown the chicken on both sides.
- Now add ginger and garlic to the the chicken and mix well.
- Season the chicken with salt, crushed pepper, paprika, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, roasted cumin and coriander powder. Mix well!
- Now add the tomatoes to the skillet, mix, put the flame on high, cover the skillet to steam cook the tomatoes for 3 to 5 minutes.
- At this point add your chickpeas and lemon juice and stir to combine. Now add 1 cup water to make the gravy.
- Cover the pot and cook on medium high for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Check on the gravy, if its your desired consistency, turn off the flame. Sprinkle it with some chaat masala and garnish with cilantro.
- Your gravy is ready!
- Serve it with steamed rice or roti and salad.
