Shorshe Murgi

Bengalis use a lot of mustard oil and strong flavours in their curries and this hot, fragrant dish is no exception. Yes, you do have to make a couple of pastes but you just blitz them in a food processor – there’s nothing tricky.

A blue bowl filled with Shorshe Murgi, a curry garnished with coriander, accompanied by a side of white rice and flatbread in the background—a dish perfect for fans of 'Chicken & Egg cookbook by the Hairy Bikers.

Shorshe Murgi

Info

Serves
4 people
Prep time
About 10 minutes
Cooking time
Around 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1kg chicken pieces, bone in, but skinned
  • 1 tbsp mustard oil
  • 1⁄2 tsp nigella seeds
  • 2 black cardamom pods
  • 3cm cinnamon stick
  • 4 cloves
  • 2 green chillies, slit lengthways
  • sliced green chillies, to serve
  • fresh coriander, to serve

Marinade

  • 1 tsp salt
  • juice of 1⁄2 lemon
  • 1⁄2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1⁄2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp mustard oil

Ginger Paste

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves,
  • grated 30g root ginger, grated

Method

  1. First marinate the chicken. Put the chicken in a bowl and sprinkle over the marinade ingredients. Rub everything into the chicken, then set it aside while you make the pastes.

  2. For the ginger paste, put the ingredients in a food processor and blitz with a splash of water until fairly smooth. Tip the paste into a bowl. For the mustard paste, drain the mustard seeds, then blitz them with the green chillies (deseed them if you don’t want too much heat) with just enough water to make a paste. Tip that into a separate bowl.

  3. Heat the mustard oil in a large frying pan. When it’s hot, add all the whole spices and cook until the nigella seeds start to splutter. Add the garlic and ginger paste immediately and cook for a few minutes until the paste starts to separate. Add the chicken pieces and turn them until they are all coated with the paste and spices. Add the slit green chillies and cook, turning regularly, over a medium heat, for about 15 minutes.

  4. Add the mustard paste and 300ml of water. Continue to simmer until the sauce has thickened to the right consistency – it should be thick enough to coat the chicken. Serve the curry with the sliced green chillies and plenty of fresh coriander.