Safed Murg Korma (Chicken in White Gravy)
on May 25, 2016, Updated Dec 27, 2023
Safed Murg Korma or Chicken Korma is a popular Pakistani/North Indian dish, where chicken is prepared with cashew nuts, poppy seeds, milk, ghee and yogurt. Serve it with naan or lachha paratha. Here is how to make it.
Try a few more North Indian Chicken recipes, that can be prepared for special occasions – Butter Chicken, Dhaba Style Chicken Curry, Achari Chicken Curry, Chicken Masala Curry, Kadai Chicken, and Coriander Chicken Curry.
About This Recipe
Chicken Korma or Safed Murg Korma is a popular North Indian or Pakistani dish where chicken is simmered in a rich and creamy gravy prepared with cashew nuts, poppy seeds, milk, ghee and yogurt. It has spicy sweet flavours and is perfect to make for special occasions.
This chicken in white gravy is best served with barkhani roti, tandoori roti, naan or lachha paratha. You can also serve it with steamed rice or a lightly spiced pulao.
Ingredients
Chicken – Select bone in chicken pieces for this rich and creamy gravy.
Yogurt – Use fresh yogurt!
Milk & Fresh Cream – Addition of milk and fresh cream adds to its richness and creaminess. It also adds a hint of sweet flavour in the recipe.
Nuts & Seeds – Cashew nuts and poppy seeds makes the base of this curry, which gives the curry a white hue and also makes it super creamy.
Ghee + Oil – Use a combination of ghee and oil. You can make it only in ghee to make it extra rich.
Others – Green chillies, ginger, garlic, maida, salt, garam masala powder, lemon juice and white pepper powder are other few ingredients used for this curry.
Adjust the amount of green chillies and white pepper powder depending on how spicy you want the curry to be.
Maida is mixed with yogurt and added in the curry, to avoid the split of yogurt and to thicken the curry. You can skip adding it too.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Chicken Korma with Indian breads such as Naan, Garlic Naan, Tandoori Roti, Bakarkhani Roti, Lachha Paratha, Plain Tawa Paratha or Phulka. It also tastes great with Steamed Rice, Jeera Rice, Peas Pulao or any lightly spiced pulao of your choice.
Storing Suggestions
Due to its rich ingredients, Chicken Korma will last only for 1-2 days. Store it in a clean and dry air tight container in the refrigerator. Reheat it in a pan or microwave until nice and warm before serving. It is not freezer friendly, as while thawing milk, cream and yogurt will split.
Safed Murg Korma / Chicken in White Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon Ghee
- 3 tablespoon Vegetable oil
- 1 kg Chicken (Curry cut)
- 15-20 Cashew Nut
- 2 tablespoon Poppy seeds
- 2-3 Green chilli
- 1 inch Ginger
- 5-6 cloves Garlic
- 1 cup Yogurt
- 2 teaspoon Maida
- Salt to taste
- ½ cup Milk
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala powder
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon White pepper powder
- ¼ cup Fresh cream
Instructions
- Heat butter and vegetable oil in a pan.
- Add chicken and fry on high heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Make a paste of cashew nuts, poppy seeds, green chilli, ginger and garlic and add it in the pan.
- Fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Whisk yogurt with maida and add it in the pan along with salt and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add milk and cover the pan and cook the chicken until it’s done.
- Add garam masala powder, lemon juice, white pepper powder and fresh cream and cook for 2 minutes.
- Garnish with saffron strands and fresh coriander.
- Serve hot with Naan or Bakharkhani Roti.
Loved the recipe!! Quick and easy to make with all the ingredients mostly stocked up at home!!
Tried it for the first time and wollllaaahhh! It turned out to be super delicious! Thanks a ton for such an awesome recipe 🤤
I will be serving it with sesame seeds paratha!
Awesome 🙂
Hey Neha!
This one turned out real swell.
Thanks a bunch. Guess going forward whisk affair is going to be the default stop #01!
Keep up the good work.
Cheers!
arul.
I am glad to hear this 🙂
Can I make it without yogart?
I am not sure skipping the yogurt.It’s an important element in the recipe.
curd is the base for gravy. i have once used boiled onion. that was also great.
Yes, I am sure boiled onion were great.
Yes add sour cream instead
Hi Neha,
Can we add just plain milk or should we boil it before adding?
Regards
Jayanthi
You can add plain milk.
Hi ,
I’d like to know for a party of 28 people how much chicken should I cook ? And also if I don’t want it too spicy then how many chillies should I use .
Hi Zarah, If you are not making anything else and only this chicken curry, then 6-7 kg of chicken should be fine. Also this recipe is not too spicy even if some chillies are added to it. You can reduce a few if you wish to.
Thanks for the response Neha . I’ll be having two to three other dishes as well so I’ve reduced the quantity of chicken and kept it up to 4 kgs .
Going to try it out this evening for a dinner party . Keeping my fingers crossed since I’ll be serving it to very fussy eaters
Do share your feedback. Have a great party.
Won’t adding lemon juice curdle the milk gravy?
Since we are adding it at the end, once the milk is cooked and reduced, it will not affect it.