Murg Musallam

Shireen Anwar’s published murgh musallam uses a whole chicken, marinated and fried before cooking with the same marinade into a thick masala. Masala TV presents her version as a chicken roast for a dinner or guests, with French fries and boiled eggs at the finish.

Cuts are made in the whole chicken, which is washed and dried. The marinade combines chilli powder, lemon juice, crushed brown onion, yogurt, ground coriander, salt, ground cashews, ginger garlic, turmeric, allspice, screwpine and saffron.

The chicken rests with this marinade before oil is heated for frying. Both sides of the bird are fried until light golden, keeping the selected whole-chicken preparation intact.

The same marinade is added with water. The chicken cooks under a cover until tender and a thick masala remains around it.

Prepared French fries and boiled eggs garnish the cooked bird for serving. The yogurt, cashew and onion marinade becomes part of the thick masala rather than a separately prepared sauce.