Murgir Jhol

Murgir jhol is classic Bengali chicken curry. This is pure Indian home cooking. Simple. Straight forward. And delicious. Family food.

It’s not fancy. It’s not flashy. And it’s not like the curry you get in restaurants. It’s just good. I think so anyway. Hopefully you agree.

This is eastern Indian cooking. The flavours I grew up eating. My comfort food. When I was a kid this was just called chicken curry. I didn’t even know if was called murgir jhol.

India is a country with an incredibly diverse culinary culture with strong regional differences.

There is so much more to it than the twenty or so dishes every Indian restaurant seems to serve. So much more.

Murgir jhol is curry with Bengali ingredients

There’s nothing earth shattering in this recipe. Onions. Garlic. Ginger. Tomatoes. These are everyday Indian ingredients.

Potatoes are fairly common in Indian cooking as well. Especially in Bengali cooking. They use them a lot. So this is really a chicken and potato curry.

Mustard is big. If you want to go the extra mile use some mustard oil to cook. It has a distinctive taste. Not super strong. Background really. But really popular in Bengali cooking.

Panch phoran and cinnamon are the things that really make this Bengali chicken curry. These are the hallmark flavours. The signature ingredients.

The only thing I can think of that would make this more Bengali would be if you added more cumin seed and mustard seed.

And you turned this into a fish curry. That would put it completely over the top. But that’s not Bengali chicken curry. And the title of this post does say murgir jhol so…

Panch phoran is not a crazy exotic ingredient

Panch phoran is Bengali five spice. It’s a mix of cumin seed, mustard seed, nigella, fenugreek seed and fennel seed. Told you cumin seed and mustard seed were big in Bengal.

These are small spices. So you can eat them in the curry. It’s not like biting into a whole cardamom. Don’t fear the small spices. They blend in. It works.

Panch phoran is the flavour that defines murgir jhol. But it’s used in all sorts of dishes. Try fried or roasted potatoes with it sometime. Some garlic. A little salt. That is some crazy delicious.

You can get Panch phoran at just about any Indian grocer. Or you can make it yourself. It’s just an even mix of the five spices. Left whole. Mix it up and go. Easy.

Take the time to brown your onions

Funny thing about Indian cooking. You don’t usually brown the chicken. One of those things that used to perplex me until I thought a bit about it.

The Maillard reaction is the king of cooking. It’s the process of browning. And that is browning is what causes a reaction between proteins and sugars.

A reaction that releases a zillion flavour compounds. Literally a zillion. I counted. Took a long time. But now I know.

So how can not browning the chicken result in something that doesn’t taste like nothing?

It’s because the Maillard reaction applies to onions too. And if there is one golden rule to Indian cooking it’s brown your onions.

That’s where the flavour compounds are coming from. That’s why it works even though you skip what should be an absolutely critical step.

You can brown your chicken. That adds more flavour. But it messes up the texture of the chicken in the curry. And texture matters too. So I don’t do it.

Boneless vs. bone-in chicken

I used boneless chicken thighs for this recipe. That upscales it a bit. Makes it closer to what you might expect in a restaurant.

That’s not authentic. That’s me trying to get you to try this recipe. A bit fancier. More approachable. Not what you’d get in somebody’s home.

But make no mistake. Bone-in chicken is genuine. Pick up the chicken and slurp the bones genuine. Lick your fingers genuine. Like I said. Family food.

But if you’re doing this for friends who are in the knife and fork crowd maybe boneless is the way to go.

Either way it needs to be thighs. White meat is too delicate for this kind of cooking.

Murgir jhol is a little bit different

This is not a restaurant style curry. It doesn’t have that crazy thick sauce. It’s not a few pieces of stuff in a whole lot of gravy. This curry is a little bit runny.

Not soupy by any stretch of the imagination. But not that stick to your naan bread restaurant stuff either. It is perfect with rice. Just runny enough to flavour every grain.

If this stops you from making murgir jhol that’s really too bad. It’s something you should experience at least once. A little insight into family cooking. The way people cook at home. The real deal.

This isn’t mainstream restaurant fare. You may not get it. But if you’ve cooked a few recipes from this blog already I’m betting you will.

murgir jhol – bengali chicken curry

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 1/2 tsp panch phoran – bengali 5 spice available at any Indian grocer
• 1/4 tsp cardamom seed green
• 1 3 inch cinnamon bark – also called cassia
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt

murgir jhol

• 2 lbs chicken thighs – boneless skinless
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil or 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
• 1 large tomato diced
• 12 oz potatoes cut into 1 inch dice
• 1 cup chicken stock or water (but I much prefer chicken stock)

Instructions

Do your prep

• Combine the panch phoran, cardamom seed and cinnamon stick in a small bowl.
• Combine the cumin, coriander, kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in another small bowl.
• Slice the onions thinly. Slice the onion in half (from root to stem) then slice across the onion so you get half moons.
• Cut your potatoes into 1 inch pieces.
• Cut your chicken into largish bite size chunks.
• Chop your tomato.

Make the murgir jhol

• Pick a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Heat the oil over medium low heat. Add the onions. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they break down and turn light brown. This takes 15-20 minutes. You can’t skip this step.
• Push the onions over to one side. Give a squeeze against the side of the pot to get some of the oil out.
• Add the whole spices. Cook for about 30-45 seconds. Now add the ground spices and stir to mix with the oil. You don’t want the mix to be dry at this point. You want the spices wet. If it looks dry add another tablespoon of oil. Cook for about a minute. Be careful. Don’t let your spices burn.
• Add the garlic ginger paste. Stir everything together and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes or so.
• Add the tomatoes. Stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down. This should take 5-7 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and the potatoes. Cover and simmer (adjust your heat accordingly) for 15-20 minutes. Your potatoes should be starting to soften.
• Add the chicken. SImmer another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked. Taste and adjust for salt. It will likely need a bit more.
• Garnish with cilantro if desired. Serve with basmati rice.

Nutrition

murgir jhol - bengali chicken curry

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 1/2 tsp panch phoran - bengali 5 spice available at any Indian grocer
• 1/4 tsp cardamom seed green
• 1 3 inch cinnamon bark - also called cassia
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt

murgir jhol

• 2 lbs chicken thighs - boneless skinless
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil or 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
• 1 large tomato diced
• 12 oz potatoes cut into 1 inch dice
• 1 cup chicken stock or water (but I much prefer chicken stock)

Instructions

Do your prep

• Combine the panch phoran, cardamom seed and cinnamon stick in a small bowl.
• Combine the cumin, coriander, kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in another small bowl.
• Slice the onions thinly. Slice the onion in half (from root to stem) then slice across the onion so you get half moons.
• Cut your potatoes into 1 inch pieces.
• Cut your chicken into largish bite size chunks.
• Chop your tomato.

Make the murgir jhol

• Pick a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Heat the oil over medium low heat. Add the onions. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they break down and turn light brown. This takes 15-20 minutes. You can’t skip this step.
• Push the onions over to one side. Give a squeeze against the side of the pot to get some of the oil out.
• Add the whole spices. Cook for about 30-45 seconds. Now add the ground spices and stir to mix with the oil. You don’t want the mix to be dry at this point. You want the spices wet. If it looks dry add another tablespoon of oil. Cook for about a minute. Be careful. Don’t let your spices burn.
• Add the garlic ginger paste. Stir everything together and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes or so.
• Add the tomatoes. Stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down. This should take 5-7 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and the potatoes. Cover and simmer (adjust your heat accordingly) for 15-20 minutes. Your potatoes should be starting to soften.
• Add the chicken. SImmer another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked. Taste and adjust for salt. It will likely need a bit more.
• Garnish with cilantro if desired. Serve with basmati rice.

Nutrition

Soto ayam is chicken noodle soup – Indonesian style. Lemongrass. Lime leaves. Ginger. Garlic. Spices. This is not your mom’s chicken noodle soup.

Crispy fried chicken. Fried shallots. Cilantro. Rice noodles. And a medium boiled egg. This is Indonesia’s answer to ramen.

I love noodles. And I have a thing for noodle soups. Look around glebe kitchen. Ramen. Pho. Laksa. Classic chicken noodle. Turkey noodle from scratch. Bo kho. Khao soi. Noodle soup puts me in a happy place. And soto ayam is right up there.

Soto ayam is not your run of the mill bowl of noodle soup

Soto ayam is unto itself. Most classic noodle soups are. Each has its distinctive broth. Toppings. Noodles. Spicing. You can take a trip around the world on noodle soup.

You could serve it as an appetizer. A cup of soup. But it comes into its own as the star. A big bowl of hot noodles in broth. A generous portion of the lemongrass infused fried chicken. A perfect medium boiled egg. See where I’m going here? Meal in a bowl.

It’s closest to laksa. But with way less coconut milk. There’s a spice paste at the base like laksa. Tons of flavour from that. The tastes are closer to Thai than Malay though. So not quite like laksa. Like I said. Unto itself.

Indonesian chicken noodle soup is a labour of love

Funny thing about most of the big Asian soups. The famous ones. They are all real work. This is not the same as a simple cream of broccoli soup. You don’t just chuck a bunch of stuff in a pot and call it done.

But every step adds something special. The chicken gets poached in a lemongrass broth. That adds more chicken flavour to the broth. And a hint of lemongrass to the chicken.

That chicken gets fried. So it has this wonderful crispy texture. And deeper chicken flavour.

There’s a paste. Shallots. Garlic. Spices. Ginger. That gets cooked down. Until the flavours meld into this wonderful soup base.

The paste goes into the lemongrass broth. Double tasty. It’s not as crazy as tonkotsu ramen from scratch but it’s not trivial either.

You get something at the other end of the journey. A little insight into the Indonesian kitchen. A truly great bowl of soup. For me it’s worth it. You have to decide for yourself. Are crazy soups your thing?

Major research required

Full disclosure. I’m not Indonesian. I didn’t grow up eating Indonesian. My mom didn’t make Indonesian chicken noodle soup for me. This is not a family secret recipe.

It is the result of a whole lot of research. I’ve had soto ayam in the Netherlands. That’s as close as you can get outside Indonesia I think. They are mad for Indonesian in the Netherlands. So I have a baseline.

I couldn’t find anything that lined up with it in any cookbook I own. And I own a lot of cookbooks. Looking at recipes online didn’t help either.

Indonesian youtube unlocked soto ayam for me

In the end I used my VPN. Set it to Indonesia. So I could get to google Indonesia. Watched a bunch of Indonesian youtube videos. A lot of google translate. Learned some new words. And came up with this.

It’s a bit more work than I expected. More work than most soto ayam recipes I’ve seen. But in the end that’s what makes it special. Going the distance.

The chicken – It’s poached in a lemongrass lime leaf broth. And then it’s shallow fried. You wind up with these little bites of lemongrass infused crispy chicken. Crazy good.

The spicing – The spicing for soto ayam actually pretty delicate. A bit of turmeric. Just enough to give the soup some colour. A little pepper. And some coriander powder. It’s actually vaguely Indian tasting until you add in the lemongrass and lime leaf.

The spice paste – Frying the shallots, garlic and ginger is a nice touch. Not one I’d thought of on my own. This one is pure Indonesian youtube. Mellows the sharp edges. It makes a difference.

Candlenut – It’s not easy to find candlenut where I live. But macadamia nuts work pretty well. And pretty easy to find. If you can get candlenut do it. But if you can’t then macadamia nuts will do.

Fried shallots – Fried shallots are way better than you’d expect. And you should expect them to be pretty tasty. Think onion rings. Now think about the complexity shallots bring. Getting it yet? You need to try these little flavour bombs.

You need to try this soup

Indonesian chicken noodle soup. Dinner in a bowl. If you don’t know soto ayam you need to try it.

A bit more effort than you might expect. But so worth it. This is one tasty soup. Satisfying. Rich chicken. Flavourful, complex broth. Fried shallots. Cilantro.

And a not so authentic medium boiled egg just to push it over the top. That’s a glebe kitchen touch.

It all just works. In a way you might not expect. But in a way you are going to love. After all, who doesn’t love chicken noodle soup? Make it. Or find a restaurant that serves it. Just try it. Seriously. Find a way.

“A person who doesn’t love chicken noodle soup is a person without a soul” said somebody. Somewhere. At some point. Maybe. OK – maybe not. I made that up. But think about it…

soto ayam – Indonesian chicken noodle soup

Ingredients

The chicken and soup base

• 8 chicken thighs skin removed
• 8 cups chicken stock no sodium (homemade is nice here)
• 1 stalk lemongrass cut into 3 pieces
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• vegetable oil to shallow fry

The spice paste

• 1 cup shallots chopped the size of garlic cloves
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 inch fresh ginger chopped
• 1 tbsp macadamia nuts – these are a replacement for the more traditional but harder to find candlenuts
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

The soto ayam

• the stock from cooking the chicken
• 12 oz rice vermicelli
• 4 large eggs
• chopped cilantro to garnish
• fried shallots to garnish
• sambal oelek to serve
• lime wedges to serve

Instructions

Prep the chicken

• Skin the chicken.
• Combine the stock, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass and salt in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer.
• Add the chicken and simmer until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170F. This should take 15-20 minutes. Don’t boil. Simmer. Little bubbles.
• Remove the chicken from the broth. Blot dry. Set aside. You can also turn off the heat under the broth for now.

Make the spice paste

• While the chicken simmers make the spice paste.
• Heat a bit of oil in a small skillet. Add the garlic, shallot and ginger and fry until the shallots soften and start to colour up.
• Transfer the garlic, shallot and ginger to a blender. Add the remaining ingredients and puree. This is your spice paste.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pot over medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer add the paste and cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for another two minutes or so. The oil should start to separate at the edges.
• Stir the cooked paste into the broth and stir.

Fry the chicken

• If you fried shallots just keep going with the chicken. If not heat around 2 cups of oil in a frying pan large enough to hold half the chicken (4 thighs). A spatter guard isn’t a bad idea here if you have one.
• Fry on one side for about 2-3 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook another 2-3 minutes. You want the chicken to brown but you don’t want to cook it to death…Remove the chicken and repeat with the other 4 thighs. Set aside to cool enough to handle.
• When it’s cool enough pull the chicken off the bone and shred it.

Medium boil the eggs

• Bring enough water to cover the eggs by one inch to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the eggs and set a timer. You want to cook them exactly seven minutes.
• After seven minutes remove them from the pan and submerge in an ice bath. This stops the eggs from cooking more. This should get you about a perfect medium boiled egg. Peel but don’t slice them yet.

Assemble the soto ayam

• Bring the broth to a lively simmer. Taste it. Be careful. It’s hot. It will need more salt. It will be somewhere around another 1/2 to full teaspoon. Maybe more. Season to your taste.
• To soften the rice vermicelli just fully submerge it in the hottest water you can get out of your tap. Let it sit five minutes and drain. Rinse with cold water. People that tell you to cook rice vermicelli like to eat rice noodle mush.
• Have your garnishes ready. Slice your eggs in half. Use a sharp knife and be careful. Those yolks are still soft.
• To serve place 1/4 of the rice noodles in each of 4 bowls. Divide the chicken and place it on the vermicelli. Top with fried shallots and cilantro. Pour 2 cups of broth into each bowl. Add one egg and a slice of lime per bowl. Serve. Add sambal oelek to taste. Enjoy.

Notes

Nutrition