Dum Ka Murgh Hyderabadi Style Recipe | Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Masala
Dum ka Murgh is a traditional Hyderabadi dish of slow-cooked marinated chicken in gravy. In this Hyderabadi chicken recipe, the chicken is cooked in a yogurt-based marinade flavoured with various spices and aromatics, slow-cooked dum-style, and then finished with dhungar (smoke infusion) to make a thick, luscious dum chicken.
Dum is derived from the Persian ‘dum’ or ‘dum baksh’ meaning ‘to give breath to’. This means a technique of very slow-cooking in a vessel sealed with a tight-fitting lid so that steam is prevented from escaping.
Cooking chicken, or indeed any kind of poultry, under dum has a number of benefits. Dum ka chicken ensures meat that is tender and juicy. Because of the airtight environment, the flavours are all sealed in and the meat is cooked in its own juices.
In our dum ka murgh recipe, we cook the chicken in a sealed dish in an oven (allowing for even heat from all sides) to produce a mouth-watering dish that is rich, aromatic, and flavourful. It is then finished with dhungar (smoke infusion) by placing a piece of smouldering charcoal on an onion layer and pouring over a couple of teaspoons of ghee.
Follow our easy and fool-proof dum ka murgh Hyderabadi recipe to enjoy succulent chicken with a yogurt and fried onion gravy with an extraordinary smoked flavour. It is perfect for special occasions like parties, but also ideal for a weekend dinner.
For best results in this easy dum ka murgh recipe, use boneless chicken thighs, which are best suited for slow-cooking as they stay succulent and readily absorb the flavours in the marinade.
Also, use fresh full-fat yogurt (curd) for the marinade, which helps in making the final dish luscious and creamy. Use thick or hung yogurt (without the whey); otherwise, you will end up with thin gravy. Ideally, the gravy should be thick.
Garnish this dum ka murgh Hyderabadi style with fine slices of deep-fried onion (birista), fresh coriander leaves, a spring of mint, and a squeeze of lime juice.
Serve dum ka murgh with masala rice or vegetable biryani with ghee. Or mop up the rich gravy with phulka, roti, paratha, roomali roti, sheermal, or butter naan.
For a full Hyderabadi meal, serve dum ka murgh with dishes like Hyderabadi chicken biryani, Hyderabadi mutton korma, aloo ka korma, and khubani ka meetha. End the meal on a sweet note with another delicious dessert, double ka meetha.
As a variation, use the same recipe (with times adjusted) to cook lamb instead of chicken. Use tender cuts of meat like the shoulder and the leg. This will take longer to cook but produces wonderful results too.
Learn how to make Hyderabadi Dum Ka Murgh at home with an easy step by step recipe and our dum ka murgh recipe video with all ingredients and a simple cooking method noted below.
And if you’re looking for a variety of Chicken Recipes, you can find them right here!
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RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
500 grams boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2½ inch pieces
Marinade:
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1⁄4 teaspoon green cardamom powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1⁄4 teaspoon clove powder
1⁄2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 1⁄4 teaspoons ginger paste
1 1⁄2 teaspoons garlic paste
1 teaspoon green chilli paste
2 tablespoons mint leaves, ground to a paste
2 1⁄2 tablespoons coriander leaves, chopped
550 grams onions, thinly sliced and fried to a crispy brown
500 ml yogurt, (about 2 cups), hung in a muslin cloth for about 30 minutes
- 1 pinch saffron, soaked in 4 teaspoons warm milk
1⁄2 onion
1 piece charcoal
2 teaspoons ghee
COOKING METHOD
- Marinate chicken: Place chicken in a glass bowl (or other non-reactive bowl). Add salt, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, red chilli powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, green chilli paste, ground mint leaves, and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add fried onion and yogurt and mix well till incorporated. Cover and marinate 8 hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 250˚C.
- Remove bowl from the refrigerator and allow the marinated chicken to return to room temperature. Transfer to an oven-proof baking dish. Pour in saffron along with the milk in which it was soaked and stir through. Cover with a tight fitting lid (oven-proof) and place the baking dish in the oven for 60 to 75 minutes, till the chicken is tender and the liquid has reduced (note there will still be a fair amount of gravy). Remove from the oven.
- Give dhungar (smoke): Peel the half onion. Remove the thick outer layer to make a makeshift cup. Put this in the center of the baking dish and, using tongs, carefully place a burning charcoal in the onion cup. Pour 2 teaspoons ghee onto the charcoal; it will start smoking. Immediately cover the dish tightly with the lid and set aside for 30 minutes to allow the smoke to its flavour. Remove charcoal and stir smoke-infused ghee into the dum ka murgh.
- Serve hot with naan, paratha, chapati, roomali roti, sheermal, or other Indian bread of your choice, or rice if you prefer.
Serves: 4 to 6 as part of a larger meal
Prep Time: 30 minutes plus 8 hours unattended marination time
Cook Time: 75 minutes plus 30 minutes unattended smoking (dhungar) time
- Marinate chicken: Place chicken in a glass bowl (or other non-reactive bowl). Add salt, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, red chilli powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, green chilli paste, ground mint leaves, and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add fried onion and yogurt and mix well till incorporated. Cover and marinate 8 hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
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