Cluck, Bleat and Bubble— 8 recipes using chicken, mutton and fish

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Winter is here, and so is FishVish’s premium chicken and mutton. There’s seafood already, of course. What can you do with all 3? Hmmm, good question, but we have plenty of answers.

  • The mother of all feasts: A Mixed Biryani with Mutton, Chicken, Prawns and Fish


Claiming to be Hyderabadi in origin, this biryani underlines what the legendary royal excess of the state has always been made out to be. After all, we’re talking about the legacy of the egg-inside-quail-inside-chicken-inside-goat.

While not quite on the scale of the culinary Russian nesting doll, this celebratory recipe could be the single-dish answer to the feast menu planning. With an expectedly long list of ingredients and cooking steps, this is not your everyday biryani, but you may want to whip it up for every celebration you want to make memorable.

  • Chicken and MuttonMince and chicken cheeseburgers


Some burger recipes may call for ground pork to add to the meat patty, or crisped bacon as another layer in the yummy burger build-up, but what is lesser known is a combination of ground-up chicken and meat. The bold flavours of the ground meat are offset by the milder, but equally tasty minced chicken. Two different ingredients that make a cheeseburger extra meaty, extra tasty, and of course, double the fun.  
The recipe calls for minced beef, but mutton keema works equally well. For fuller-bodied flavours, replace the onion and garlic powders with finely chopped or grated onion and garlic. For heat, if you like your food spicy, add a chopped green chilli.
  • Mutton Keema-stuffed Chicken Potli Kebab


Here’s how to shine at your next dinner party: 1) Order your mutton keema and chicken breasts 2) Follow this well-written recipe for a triple whopper of chicken, mutton and desi spices 3) Watch as jaws drop at your soiree, when your guests see platters of these beauties. 4) Practice charmingly fobbing off compliments, because there are going to be a lot of those.
‘Potli’ meaning a small bag is the appropriate name for these meaty moneybags. The mincemeat stuffing for these is cooked with rich spices like star anise, mace, nutmeg with a touch of rose water and ghee. Make sure the chicken breasts are flattened evenly, they need to be thin enough to contain the stuffing when the ends are pulled up and tied together. The aluminium foil string is another reminder of the moneybag affiliation.
  • Chicken and FishSeafood and Chicken Paella


Seekers will find plenty of chicken and seafood stews and rice dishes all over the world. Possibly, perhaps, because enough cooks have discovered the magic of the not-so-secret idea of combining white protein together, to create the most deliciously satisfying recipes. The paella is one of these—tantalizingly loaded with fat shrimp, chicken pieces, slivers of fish, all accented with a saffron-hued and scented chicken stock that the rice and meat cook in. There are easy paella recipes and there are those that are best saved for leisure. But they are all promise a memorable meal that’ll bring back happy memories of beaches and sand.
Feel free to skip the chorizo, but ensure the right quality of rice to make this simple version. And don’t skip or skimp on the saffron; it punctuates the seafood flavour with its own aromatic subtlety. 

Recipe: Seafood and Chicken Paella

  • Liberian Chicken Gravy


The chicken gravy in the name is a little misleading; the seafood in the dish plays enough of a leading role to get top billing. If it were a movie, the seafood would be the romance for the dashing chicken, simmered on the bone, in all its glory. Amidst the backdrop of the aromatics, the hot peppers, vegetables and herbs, the love would thrive and the story shared with generations to come.
The seafood mix here doesn’t need to be too much; some prawns and fried steaks of firm fish fit the bill just fine. And rice is the perfect companion to witness the successful marriage of the leading cast, due credit given or not.
  • Garlic Shrimp Stuffed Chicken Breasts


Chicken breasts are a great vehicle to carry scrumptious stuffing—including minced meat, cheese and seafood, especially prawns. This recipe stands out for the special treatment it gives to the chicken; instead of simmering it in a sauce like you would expect, the chicken breast is flattened, marinated, stuffed with cooked prawns and thrown on the grill. 
The marinade has chilli peppers and its cousins in 3 forms—paprika, sambal oelek and roasted red pepper. The smoke from the grill pumps up the deep heat, and the result is a juicy, oozing with flavour chicken dish. Oh, and the some of the marinade is reserved to serve as a sauce. Delish.
  • Fish and muttonConfit of Tuna in Red-wine Sauce


This old article, published about 20 years ago, talks about the Michelin star Gordon Ramsay earned for “his flair in front of the stove”. A couple of decades and several Michelin stars later, Ramsay is one of the best known faces in the business. His culinary wizardry stands out in his approach even back then, when he says “I often serve fish with meat-stock based sauces”. Why don’t we all do this, you may wonder—the deep flavours of meat stock are the perfect foil for the light delicateness of fish and seafood.
In this recipe, the meatiness of tuna steaks is brought out brilliantly by the richness of the red wine and chicken stock sauce, which can only be made better by a clear mutton broth, a recipe for which can be found here. The five-spice powder adds a fragrant complexity to the nuances of the dish. Serve with fried new potatoes, asparagus spears and green beans, as Ramsay suggests.
  • Assorted Fish and Meat Sauce


Nigerian cooking is all-embracing, incorporating different meats, grains and beans, spices and vegetables available in the region. The focus on stews and soups is prominent, as is the penchant for using not ordinarily paired ingredients. Take this assorted fish and meat stew, for example. It uses 3 kinds of fish, dried and fresh, in a hot sauce that features fried meat. A sure way to shake up things, when meal ideas are hard to come by.
The fried meat is easily subbed with pieces of fried goat meat, that you can find here. Serve with sides of rice, boiled potatoes, yam, bread etc., as the recipe author recommends.
Do you have any never-heard-of-before chicken, mutton and fish recipes of your own? Do share, we would love to hear of them. 


About the Author
An incorrigible gastronome, Rupika V is on a perpetual quest to find the best food around, and will happily travel far to find it.

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