This rich,buttery and creamy chicken made with tomato paste needs no introduction as Butter Chicken is one of the best known Indian Dish found allover the world. This is also commonly known as Murg Makhni.
This recipe is said to have originated in a restaurant called Moti Mahal in New Delhi, India. The origin of Butter Chicken can be traced back to a man called Kundan Lal Gujral, who ran a restaurant called Moti Mahal Delux in Peshawar before the partition of India. After the partion, Moti Mahal moved to New Delhi.
Butter Chicken is no doubt a very rich dish as the gravy for this is made with pureed juicy tomatoes cooked in butter and finished with fresh cream.The mysterious aroma of this dish comes with the addition of kasuri methi ior dries fenugreek leaves.
This dish is cooked in two parts.First being cooking the chicken in a tandoor which is a traditional clay oven or Grill where the marinated chicken is cooked in a few minutes.There is a variety of ways in which Butter chicken can be cooked. Some used Yoghurt , Cashew nut paste in place of cream to cut down the amount of cream used in the dish.Substitution do make nice chicken curry but it can never be called an authentic Butter Chicken.
INGREDIENTS:
FOR FIRST MARINADE:
750 gms boneless Chicken cut into cubes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp kashmiri Red chilli powder
salt
FOR SECOND MARINADE:
1 cup or 6 to 7 tbsp of thick yoghurt
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
salt
1 tbsp mustard oil
FOR MAKHNI GRAVY:
70 gms Butter
1/2 tsp Shah Jeera or black cumin seeds
500 gms tomato puree
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
2 to 3 green chillies chopped
salt
1/2 tsp kasuri Methi
1 tsp garam masala
100 gms fresh cream
HOW TO MAKE IT:
- Make incision with a sharp knife on breast and leg pieces of the chicken. Since I have used the boneless chicken cubes , this process is not necessary.
- Apply a mixture of red chillies powder, lemon juice and salt to the chicken and set aside for half an hour.
- Hang yoghurt in a muslin cloth for 15 to 20 minutes to remove the extra water. Add ginger garlic paste and mustard oil to the yogurt. Apply this marinade to the chicken pieces and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.
- Put the chicken pieces in a skewer and and cook on a moderately preheated oven at 200 degree for 10 to 12 minutes or untill done. Baste it with butter and cook for another 2 minutes.Remove and set aside.
- Heat Butter in a pan. Add black cumin seeds , tomato puree, sugar, red chilli powder and mix it well.
- Cook till the raw smells of the tomato goes away and oil starts to come out of the sides of the pan.
- Add one cup of water , salt and bring it to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the cooked tandoori chicken pieces, Kasoori methi and chopped green chillies and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the fresh cream and remove from heat.Serve hot with Naan or Parathas.
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