Reshmi Kebab

Reshmi kebab is a creamy chicken kebab rooted in Mughlai court cooking, where the kitchens prized softness and richness and reached for luxurious dairy and nuts to achieve it. The use of cream and cashew to build a pale, opulent marinade is a hallmark of that tradition, the same instinct that produced korma and the white kebabs of Lucknow. No single date, cook or court is reliably recorded for it; it survives as a general Mughlai legacy, and is sometimes called Murgh Malai ("creamy chicken") kebab for the same reason. It is a standard of tandoor menus across North India today.

Pale, plump pieces of chicken with only a whisper of gold on the edges, so soft they barely resist the teeth. The taste is mild and creamy — cashew, fresh cream and a clean yogurt tang — lifted by green cardamom, white pepper and a little mace, with no chili burn at all. The egg in the marinade gives a tender, slightly custardy bind. Eaten with a dab of mint chutney that cuts the richness; if the surface is heavily charred or dry, the tandoor was too fierce for so delicate a kebab.

The silken texture is engineered by the marinade rather than by pounding. Cream and egg coat each piece of chicken in fat and protein, sealing in moisture, while yogurt's mild acid and the enzymes in a little cashew or raw papaya gently loosen the muscle so it grills soft. Because there is no chili powder or turmeric to brown, the kebab must be cooked at a slightly lower tandoor heat and watched closely — the goal is to set the egg-cream coat and cook the chicken through while keeping the surface pale, the opposite of the deep char wanted on a boti.