Reshmi kabab or chicken malai kabab recipe – Kebab or kabab is a piece of meat or other food that is mostly grilled on the charcoal fire. Reshmi kabab has its roots from the Mughalai cuisine. It is not commonly prepared in the house holds due to the absence of charcoal fire. It is mostly found on the Indian restaurant menus and tops the orders among the list of chicken dishes. These are also known as chicken malai tikka.
The marinade used to make these malai kabab is unique and lends a great taste to the soft and tender chunks of grilled chicken.
In Indian & Mughlai cuisines, there are a lot of dishes to which malai aka fresh cream is added to enhance the richness and texture of the dish. Malai chicken curry and Paneer malai kofta are 2 such dishes which I shared on the blog.
This appetizer gets the name chicken malai kabab again since malai is used. It tastes rich and creamy due to the addition of cream, ground cashews and almonds.
Serve it as an appetizer or a side in a meal. This mint chutney and green chutney are usually accompanied with these kababs
For more kabab recipes, you may like to check
Chicken kabab recipe
Shami kabab
Dahi kabab
Hara bhara kabab
Veg seekh kabab
Preparation for malai kabab
1. Ingredients for preparing the marinade. Ginger garlic paste (or chopped pieces), black pepper corn or powder, salt, lemon juice, almond meal (or almonds and cashews ), hung curd/ greek yogurt and fresh cream. You may optionally use cheese.
2. Since I did not have almond meal & ginger garlic, I went ahead grinding the chopped ginger, garlic, almonds and cashews with little yogurt to a smooth paste.
3. The ground paste has to be thick.
Marination
4. We will need boneless chicken cubed.
5. Add all the ingredients.
6. Squeeze the lemon juice.
7. Add 1 tsp oil.
8. Mix up everything well and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to overnight. The longer we allow them to rest, the softer they turn out. If using wooden skewers, soak them for at least one hour.
How to make Chicken Reshmi Kabab
9. Preheat the oven to 470 F or 240 C for at least 15 mins. Thread the chicken on to the skewers. Grill them for 15 mins. Turn over the skewers and grill for another 7 to 8 mins. Keep an eye after 23 to 24 mins of grilling to prevent burning.
Serve with mint chutney.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Reshmi Kabab | Chicken Malai Kabab
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 250 grams boneless chicken (or breast) (½ lb)
- 2 tablespoons fresh cream
- 2 tablespoons greek yogurt or thick curd or hung yogurt
- 1 to 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (or 1 teaspoon green chilli paste)
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (Chopped, cilantro)
- 1½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste or 1 inch ginger 3 to 4 cloves of garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 2 tablespoons almond meal (or 12 almonds & 8 cashews or ½ tablespoon cornstarch refer notes)
- 2 tablespoons cheese (optional – cream cheese, cheddar or mozzarella)
For Serving
- 1 tablespoon butter for brushing
- ½ cup Mint Chutney
Instructions
Preparation for chicken malai kabab
- Add chicken to a bowl and pat dry any excess moisture. This prevents the chicken malai tikkas from letting out lots of moisture.
- In a separate bowl, mix together almond meal, fresh cream, thick yogurt, cheese (optional), lemon juice, oil, salt, black pepper, ginger garlic and coriander leaves.
- Mix them well and taste test. If you want you may add more salt and black pepper to adjust to your taste. This mixture should be ideally thick.
- Pour this over the chicken and mix well. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for atleast 4 hours to overnight.
How to make reshmi kabab
- Preheat the oven to the highest. At 240 C or 470 F for at least 15 mins.
- Thread the chicken on the skewers and place them on a prepared baking tray. Grill for 15 mins.
- Turn them to the other side and grill again for 7 to 8 mins. Check after 22 to 23 mins of grilling to prevent burning.
- The last 2 minutes grill them on a broil mode for charring. Remove the grilled chicken malai tikkas from the oven and brush butter over them.
- Serve chicken malai kababs with mint chutney.
Notes
- Substitute Almond meal: If you do not have almond meal, simply grind the almonds and cashews with 2 tablespoons of yogurt called for in the recipe. Scrape the sides and add the cream too if you require more liquid in your paste. It has to be a smooth paste. You can also use only 13 to 15 almonds and skip cashews.
- Cornstarch: In a lot of restaurants corn starch is used in stead of almond meal.
- Ginger Garlic Paste: If you do not have ginger garlic paste & almond meal both, you can add fresh piece of ginger and garlic along with the almonds and yogurt to a blender. Blend to a smooth paste.
- Green Chilli Paste: Green chilli is usually not used in this recipe. However you may use 1 teaspoon of green chilli paste to make the spicy version.
- More spices for flavoring: A lot of restaurants also use cardamom powder and nutmeg powder for flavor. But they both add a kind of sweeet and floral aroma to these kababs so we personally don’t prefer.
- Note that these malai kababs are creamy, mild and do not have a strong flavor of any spices. So they are always paired with Mint Chutney
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
5 stars .. It was my first experience with this local foods mail advertising and I’m so proud of to findings of my request
Can we first boil the chicken then marinade and finish it on electric grill so that the chicken will be completed cooked
Hi Melissa
You will loose much of the flavor in the chicken if you boil it. Please follow the recipe as mentioned
Yum, really delicious and straightforward! I did the cashew+almond version, not cheese – tasted better than any I tried in restaurants. yum.
Glad to know!
Thank you!
What kind of cheese can I use instead of cashew and almods?
Hi,
Cream cheese goes well for this recipe. I haven’t tried with any other.
Hi swasthi,
Have you considered Master chef ? You really need to ,you are amazing, all your recipe is awesome, and has never failed.and this one truely adds to it.My husband just loves malai chicken,made it today and he was all praises. Thank you for the amazing recipe.
Hi Ashika!
Haha! Thank you! Glad to know the recipes are working out well.
🙂
What can we substitute if there is no fresh cream or malai ?
Thanks
Try skipping it.
Didn’t have the time to use the oven, so grilled it on a tawa… Ma Sha Allah, Turned out great.
Thank you! Glad the kababs turned out good
Developed my cooking skills
I appreciate the Reshmi kabab
Thank you
Today i tried your recipe and it made my day. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us.
Welcome Mini
Glad you liked the kababs
This recipe is out of this world. Too, too good. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sanchari
You are welcome. Thank you so much for the comment. Glad you liked it.
Hi Madame…. If I wanna make this recipe for 500g and 1 kilo how I add the ingredients. I have party coming up. Pls help me.
Hi Mumtaz
Multiply all the ingredients by 4 to make 1 kg reshmi kabab. Hope this helps
Superb recipe….tried it out for the 2nd time…
Thanks for trying
Super for reshmi maSala Thanks
Welcome
Hi,
Today will be the 2nd time I’m trying our your recipe. The first time outstanding. Thank you.
Welcome. Glad to know it turned out good. Thanks for the comment
Tried this today. Was a clear winner. Plan to make this again for the offuce potluck next month. I doubled the quantity today and it was still vanishing from the plate before i could refill it. ?
Hi Mich, Thanks for trying. Happy to know kababs turned out good
I have tried couple of your recipes like
Green round egg plant recipe and
Chicken rashmi kebab
Wow v nice, and now I will try many more, Too good ??
Thanks ??
Hi… I wanted to try this recipe using the oven at home since it looks and sounds heavenly! However I don’t have skewers so can I place it on a rack or a tray inside the oven and make.it??
Yes you can grease a wire rack and then place the chicken over it. Place a tray beneath to collect the drippings
Wow.. I tried this recipe last night.. Tastes so goood.. A big thanks.. keep posting more. ..
Welcome Payel
Thanks for trying
I’ve already tried this recipe multiple times. It’s so yum! How can I print the recipe card? I can’t seem to highlight anything.
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Welcome Sabah.
Glad to know you liked the recipe. Due to technical problems there is no print option on this blog. Thanks for writing
How can 250gms change chicken serve 4?
Yes it serves 3 to 4. It is on the heavier side since cream, yogurt and nuts are used. It may not be good to over eat these