Jump to the Murgh Cholay Recipe
There are some things I wish my mama had taught me how to cook – Murgh Cholay is one of them. Well, why didn’t she you may ask? As far as I know my mama has never made murgh cholay. You see, we are from Karachi, a boisterous city by the sea, whose 15 million inhabitants hail from all over Pakistan and pre partition India. Murgh Cholay is a very Lahori dish and one that I had only had in restaurants until I moved to Canada and concluded that if I wanted good murgh cholay on a regular basis then I better figure out how to make them.
Folks, I think I have it now. Thanks to the combination of a little googling and a few past attempts I seem to have figured out how to get the subtle back of the mouth heat of this dish without losing the flavour of the ingredients. Phew. All that mediocrity was getting to be exhausting!
The Not-so-Secret to Good Murgh Cholay
Turns out the problem I was having was that I was using similar ratios of spices for the murgh cholay that I would with a regular chicken curry and what that meant was that it would always end up tasting a little – well boring, for lack of better word. You see the chickpeas really soak up flavour and so you need to create a strong spice base otherwise there just is not enough to go around. So don’t be shy about the chilli powder and the green chillies at the end. Just remember when we cook the green chillies a lot of the aggressive heat of the chillies cooks out anyway.
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- 1 pound boneless chicken or 2 pounds chicken bone in
- 1 17-19 fl oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed through
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 ½ teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup cilantro
- 3 green chillies finely sliced
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Dice your onions and tomatoes in a small to medium dice and set aside.
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Take a stockpot sized pot and put it on medium high heat, wait a few minutes, and then add the oil. When the oil is hot then add in the onions and the cumin seeds & cook until the onions start to turn golden brown at the edges.
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Add the garlic and ginger pastes and stir for another minute or two, then add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder and let it cook until it becomes a cohesive paste, be careful not to burn it. If it starts to stick then add a tablespoon of water.
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Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook till soft.
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Add the chicken pieces into the pot, stirring to ensure that the chicken turns white on all sides.
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Now in goes a cup of hot water, the chickpeas, and a pinch of baking soda, bring it to a boil, and then let it cook covered on low heat for another 25-30 minutes.
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Uncover your pot, check the chicken for doneness, it should be nice and tender
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Adjust the consistency of your gravy by adding water then add the garam masala, the black pepper, the green chillies and cilantro. Cook for 2 minutes then taste and adjust seasoning.
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Garnish with additional cilantro and green chillies if desired and serve hot.
Want more details? A step by step? Look below!
Murgh Chholay
Serves 4
1 pound boneless chicken or 2 pounds chicken bone in
1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed through
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 ½ teaspoon garlic paste
1 ½ teaspoon ginger paste
1 ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 ½ to 2 teaspoons red chilli powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup cilantro
3 green chillies finely sliced
Dice your onions and tomatoes in a small to medium dice and set aside.
Now let's get cooking!
Take a stockpot sized pot and put it on medium high heat, wait a few minutes, and then add the oil. When the oil is nice and hot then add in the onions and the cumin seeds and let it cook until the onions start to turn golden brown at the edges. Add the garlic and ginger pastes and stir for another minute or two, then add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder and let it cook until it becomes a cohesive paste, be careful not to burn it. If it starts to stick then add a tablespoon of water.
Now it is time to put in the chopped tomatoes, we just want these to get nice and mushy (like above), if you caramelize them then the tomato taste will become stronger than it ought to be in this dish. Add the chicken and stir fry on high heat till the chicken turns white on the outside.
Add about a cup of hot water, the chickpeas, and a pinch of baking soda, bring it to a boil, and then let it cook covered on low heat for another 20 minutes. The baking soda helps flavour permeate into the chickpeas.
Time for finishing touches!
Now uncover your pot, check the chicken for doneness, it should be nice and tender by now. Add water to adjust the consistency of the gravy. If you plan to serve it over rice then you want it a little thinner, with naan/roti then you want it a little on the thicker side. Now it is time to add in the garam masala, the black pepper, the green chillies and the cilantro. Let it cook for a few minutes then taste and check for seasoning, you may need to add more salt. Feel free to garnish with additional cilantro and green chillies.
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Just discovered your blog through My Ninja Naan and so glad I came by...I've been searching for a Murgh Cholay recipe for ages. My mom never made it...in fact I never knew a dish like this even existed till I got married and my husband told me about this dish which at first sounded really weird. But then I tasted it....we would always make it using the Shaan Masala packets but I'm trying to move away from those...pinning this recipe to make later! Looks delicious!
Thanks and good luck! Consider yourself fortunate that your husband likes it - mine's standard response is "why are there chickpeas in my murghi ka salan" lol
This looks fab mashAllah! I too never had it growing up, because my family is also from Karachi. I used to eat it at our local masjid potlucks, because most of the people there were Punjabi, so we ate a lot of murgh cholay and chana pulao lol 🙂 My recipe is similar, but I only use a little turmeric, red chili powder, and some garam masala. Yours looks like it would be amazing with some rice!
Thanks! chana pulao is also one of those things I only started making relatively recently! Us Karachiites seem to really be missing out on some good stuff! One of my best friends in Karachi was Punjabi so I used to get my fix at her place
wow I am falling in Love with your blog !! So Yumm recipes and so easy way to describe them ! My mom is constantly saying me these days to learn making food and I am sure I will learn much from your blog ! Love it xx
I love all ingredients, great flavors! Curry looks mouthwatering and comforting!
Thank you so much!
hi! did u use canned chickpeas that are ready to eat and dont need to be boiled? if i use those, is there a step i need to skip?
Yup I used a can 🙂 Sadly that means there are no skippable steps. I am too much of a lazy bum to soak and boil my own chickpeas heheh
ok great haha the recipe seems really easy so i dont mind not skipping a step i just wanted to make sure the step where you add water and baking soda and boil didnt turn the chickpeas to mush in case u used the regular ones.
will tell u how it turns out
thanks!
always safe to check 🙂 remember this is a teeny tiny amount of baking soda, it helps soften the chickpeas so they become better 'sponges' for flavor
turned out great!
but at the last minute i realised i didnt have baking soda 🙁 so i guess the chickpeas may not have absorbed as much flavour as they should have which meant the dish was quite spicy (great for me but poor husband cant handle heat) i also think i may have been too generous with the laal mirch. but for next time i know!
I am so glad it turned out well, feeling a wee bit bad for your husband but that's nothing a little dahi can't fix heheeh On the plus side (for him) the spice factor will mellow out overnight! Thanks for the update 🙂
I’ve been a fan of Middle Eastern cuisine for a while, and have just begun the journey to learn how to cook it for myself - this recipe was the first I’ve tried, and it came out amazing! Thanks so much! I will now scour your blog to find more yummy dishes to prepare 🙂
That is so incredibly wonderful to hear! this is definitely a family favourite and I am thrilled to hear you liked it!
Jazakillah Sara for this, I am trying your recipe today! looks delicious
Hope you enjoyed it!!!