Chicken cubes soaked in a white marinade of cream, cheese, cashew, and green cardamom, grilled just until golden at the edges. It is the mildest of the tandoori kebabs, prized for its almost dessert-like richness.
Also known as: murgh malai tikka, malai tikka, malai kabab, malai chicken kebab, creamy kebab, मलाई कबाब
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g chicken breast or thigh, in 4 cm pieces
- 80 ml double cream
- 40 g mild processed cheese, finely grated
- 25 g cashew paste (soaked cashews, blitzed)
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- Seeds of 3 green cardamom pods, ground
- 0.5 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- Salt, plus 15 g melted butter
How to make it
- 1
Mash the grated cheese with the ginger-garlic paste until it smears smooth against the bowl.
- 2
Fold in cream, cashew paste, cardamom, white pepper, cornflour and salt to make a thick white coat.
- 3
Bury the chicken in it and refrigerate 4 hours; the dairy quietly tenderizes.
- 4
Skewer and cook at a moderate 200 C oven-grill for 10-12 minutes, turning once, pulling it at pale gold with only freckles of color.
- 5
Gloss with butter and rest 3 minutes before serving.
Pro tip: This is the one kebab you must not char. Cream and cardamom scorch bitter past light gold, so chase tenderness, not grill marks; freckles are the ceiling.
The story of Malai Kebab
Malai kebab is the mildest and richest of the Indian tandoori kebabs — chicken cubes soaked in a white marinade of cream, cheese, cashew and green cardamom, grilled just until golden at the edges. It is deliberately pale, and a malai kebab that has browned much has been mishandled.
It belongs to the Mughlai white-dish tradition that also produced shahi korma and safed maas, in which colour is deliberately withheld and richness supplied by dairy and nuts rather than by chilli and tomato. On a mixed tandoori platter it is placed as the counterweight to the red tikka, and menus expect diners to order both.
The technique that defines it
The marinade is an emulsion, and it needs body or it slides off. Cream, hung yoghurt or cream cheese, and cashew paste together give it the thickness required, and cashew in particular contributes both texture and a faint sweetness that defines the dish.
The cooking is gentler than for red tikka, because dairy and nut solids scorch. Moderate-high heat rather than the tandoor's fiercest, and the pieces are pulled while still pale gold with only light charring at the edges. Green cardamom and white pepper go in at the end; both lose their aromatics if cooked hard.
Choosing your ingredients
Chicken thigh or breast — this is one dish where breast is defensible, since the marinade is so protective, though thigh still tastes better. Cashews soaked and blended to a smooth paste. Thick cream and hung yoghurt or a spoon of cream cheese.
Green cardamom, freshly ground, is the signature aroma. White pepper rather than black, so no dark specks appear. A little grated processed cheese is a genuine restaurant trick that adds salt and body. No turmeric, no chilli powder, no tomato — anything that adds colour defeats the dish.
Mistakes that ruin it
Cooking it too hard
Dairy and cashew scorch. It should come off pale gold with light charring at the edges, not browned.
Adding anything coloured
Turmeric, chilli powder or tomato ruin the point. Malai kebab is white by design.
Thin marinade
It slides off in the oven. Cashew paste and thick cream give it the body it needs.
Grinding cardamom in advance
Its aroma fades fast. Grind it just before it goes in.
How it is served
With mint chutney, onion rings with lemon and chaat masala, and naan. It is usually served alongside a red tikka on a mixed platter so the contrast is available. A sharp chutney matters more here than with any other tandoori kebab, because the dish supplies no acidity of its own.
Questions about Malai Kebab
Why is malai kebab white?
By design. It belongs to the Mughlai white-dish tradition, where richness comes from cream, cheese and cashew rather than chilli and tomato, and colour is deliberately withheld.
Can I use chicken breast?
Yes — this is one of the few tandoori kebabs where breast works, because the dairy marinade is so protective. Thigh still tastes better.
What gives it the body?
Cashew paste with cream and hung yoghurt or cream cheese. Without the nut paste the marinade is too thin to cling.
How is it different from malai boti?
Malai boti is the Pakistani version, sharpened with green chilli and white pepper. The Indian malai kebab leans on cashew and green cardamom and is sweeter and milder.
