Chicken Mughlai

Name: Chicken Mughlai
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian (Westbengal)
Ingredients: Chicken (bone-in): 800g; Yogurt: 150g; Cashew-almond paste: 75g (50g cashew + 25g almond, soaked and blended); Onion paste: 150g; Ginger paste: 1½ tsp; Garlic paste: 1 tsp; Cream: 50ml; Ghee: 3 tbsp; White pepper: ½ tsp; Cardamom: 4, Mace: ¼ tsp; Saffron in warm milk: 3 tbsp; Kewra water: 1 tsp; Salt: 1½ tsp; Sugar: ½ tsp; Fried onion: for garnish; No red spices — this is a pale, luxurious dish; Nut paste thickens the gravy naturally without flour; Cream should be added last and never boiled; Serve with sheermal or paratha — this is a restaurant-dinner dish

🍗 Non-veg📊 Medium

Rich, creamy chicken in a yogurt-cashew-almond gravy with saffron and kewra — Kolkata's Mughlai restaurant-style chicken dinner of aristocratic richness.

⏱️20 minPrep

🔥40 minCook

🕒60 minTotal

🍽️4Serves

🧺 Ingredients

👩‍🍳 How to make Chicken Mughlai

Mix chicken with yogurt, ginger-garlic, white pepper, salt; rest 2 hours.
In ghee, bloom cardamom and mace.
Add onion paste; cook 8 min to light golden.
Add marinated chicken; cook until chicken releases its moisture and reabsorbs it, about 20 min.
Add cashew-almond paste; cook 5 min.
Add cream; stir through.
Add saffron milk, kewra water, sugar.
Simmer 5 min until gravy is thick and ivory-yellow.
Garnish fried onion.

📖 Cultural notes

|---|---|---|---|---| | 490 kcal | 44g | 14g | 28g | 2g | Mughlai Chicken is the jewel of Kolkata's Mughlai restaurant culture — a cuisine distinct from the broader "Indian restaurant" experience. Places like Shiraz, Sabir's and Peter Cat in Kolkata have served this since the 1950s. The dish's richness (nuts, cream, saffron) marks it as special-occasion food — ordered on birthdays, anniversaries and first dates at Kolkata's iconic restaurants. ---

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