Murgh Methi | Chicken & Fenugreek Leaves Gravy

Today , a Pot-Luck  Lunch was organized at my husband’s office and I wanted to make a dish which I had not posted in my blog so far. The challenge was to make a dish that takes less time to cook and at the same time, be yummy enough to tickle everyone’s taste buds. The less time constraint was because I had to rush up to my office after finishing up work at home. So I decided to prepare Methi Murgh | Murgh Methi.

Methi Murgh is an interesting dish from Hyderabadi cuisine. It is a creamy chicken curry combined with the flavours of methi | fenugreek leaves | வெந்தய கீரை . I need not talk about the goodness of fenugreek leaves, which I’m sure you’re aware of already. This curry is a perfect party dish and goes well with plain rice, flavoured rice, roti |naan etc.

Here is the recipe of Methi Murgh!

Ingredients:

• Chicken – 1 Kg
• Methi leaves ( Baby) –  1 bunch
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Onion (finely chopped) – 3 Nos
• Tomato (finely chopped) – 3 Nos
• Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 3 tbsp
• Roasted cumin powder – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
• Curd – 3 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash chicken thoroughly and dice into required size, drizzle some turmeric powder, mix well and keep aside.
2. Cut the leaves portion alone using kitchen scissors without unbundling the bunch and place it in a bowl full of water. After some time, the leaves will float on water and the impurities will get settled down. Collect only the leaves, discard the bottom  and  repeat the same 2 to 3 times till you get only the leaves.  Keep it aside.
3. Grind tomatoes in a mixer grinder and keep it aside.
4. In a non-stick pan or heavy bottomed kadai, pour oil and season with jeera.
5. Add finely chopped onions and  sauté till the onions become brownish in colour.
6. Then add ginger-garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off.
7. Add tomato puree and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes goes off and blend well with onions.
8. Add all the masala powders except garam masala powder and sauté well till the oil leaves out.
9. Now add chicken pieces, sauté for 3 minutes, pour 2 cups of water and cook it covered stirring in between.
10. When the chicken pieces are ¾th done, add curd, methi leaves and mix everything well. Cook on low flame with lid.  Check for spice & salt at this stage and if you want, you can add more now.
11. After 5 minutes, open the lid and check for the curry consistency. Allow it to become thick & glossy. Before switching off, add garam masala powder, gently mix everything and allow it to stand for 5 minutes with the lid closed.

Your delicious, creamy Murgh Methi is ready to serve!

Note:

• I have used baby(freshly sprouted) methi leaves and hence I have added straight away. But if you use fully grown leaves, sauté the cleaned leaves in a tsp of oil before adding to the gravy.
• Cashew nut paste can be added at the last step to thicken the gravy.

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