Methi chicken is one of the most flavourful, delicious & simple dish made by simmering chicken in moderately spicy masala along with fenugreek leaves aka methi.

I have raved about fresh fenugreek before. It is absolutely one of my favourite indian spice and herb. The intense aroma of its leaves means that fenugreek can swing both ways.

Fresh fenugreek is so so good. Rich, pungent, curry-ish, fenugreek leaves give incomparable flavour to Indian recipes of all kinds. One of my favourite EVER Indian dishes is methi murgh, chicken cooked in a divine caramelized onion-fresh fenugreek sauce.

Known in Hindi as methi, fenugreek has a distinctive pungent flavour that I can only describe as Ultra-Curry. . .  and Delicious. Methi is used as both a herb and a leafy vegetable; its seeds are an integral component of most curry powders. I would venture to say that fenugreek on its own, along with cumin, carries the bulk of the flavour that we Westerners think of as ‘curried’.

Methi leaves are used in a variety of traditional Indian dishes: as part of mixed vegetables (often with young potatoes), as part of curry sauces, as a component of (or filling for) flatbreads, or as the main ingredient in a dish such as methi paneer.

My personal favourite use for fenugreek is Methi Murgh: Chicken in a Fenugreek Sauce. It is divine: rich, sophisticated, flavourful, ultra-curry but with a delicate complexity unknown to most who have not tried real authentic Indian food.

This is a divine chicken curry: rich, sophisticated, flavourful, with a delicate complexity from the proper cooking of Indian spices and herbs. This recipe is very simple to make and just takes about 35 to 40 mins. It goes well with plain rice, roti, naan or with paratha.

Methi Murgh is not only my favourite way to use fenugreek, it is my favourite Indian dish, period. Make it, and make it soon.

Firstly, prepare your fresh methi. Pick the leaves of the stems then thoroughly wash the leaves and gently pat dry. Next roughly chop the Methi.

INGREDIENTS:

500g boneless chicken thigh.
2 med red onions sliced thin
3 cups fresh Fenugreek leaves chopped
4 fresh chillies slit
2 tbsp Oil
1 Tsp Cumin seeds
2 tbsp ghee
1 Bay leaves
2 tbs coriander seeds, lightly roast then crush.
1 tsp salt

There is only a small prep to be done, that’s make a paste.

You will need blender to make Paste with
ingredients here:

1 tsp tumeric
Blend cup of full fat yogurt with
1 tbsp garlic ginger paste…
2 tbsp whole roasted coriander thats ground.
1 tbsp chilli powder
2 of green chillies.
1 tbsp gharam masala

METHOD:

Add the oil and ghee both in pan, once heated add the cumin seeds and bay leaf.

Roast for 30 secs then add onions, salt plus half your chillies. Brown off onions on medium heat.

Here we will need the paste.

Back to the onions, once browned then add paste to onions.

Stir well on high flame, cook well until oil has been released

Then goes in Chicken on high flame to sear chicken for 3/4 mins.

Then add fenugreek leaves, or Kasuri Methi…stir well again to coat chicken in leaves. Cook for about 5 mins until oil splits or pockets rise to surface.

Check salt and chilli to taste and stir well.
Now add 1/2 measuring cup of water and stir, cover and leave on low/medium heat for 20 mins or until Chicken is cooked…

Remove lid and cook till liquid gone…and its looking creamy/loose but no water at all and bits of fat floating…done.

Serve.

Goes best with Chappati, Paratha, Tandoori Roti.
Your choice, enjoy!

Copyright © 2020 -2022 Papli Rani Dey
All Rights Reserved.