Butter Chicken / Murgh Makhani

Word of Caution: This recipe will boost your cholesterol levels, expand your waistline and may make you a lifelong addict to Rich Indian curries. So don’t tell me that I didn’t warn you before.
 “Enter Eat at your own risk”  (Hehe juz kiddin ..)

This recipe came to me through an event by a Facebook group based in Uae-the ‘Uae Food Guide’. A group dedicated to just food and only food run by a Uae based doctor Shameem Yusuf and her friends. You can find restaurant reviews, recipes and mostly anything related to food here. The admins and active members being hardcore foodies, the group is a fantastic place to be in. So, this recipe was a part of an event in the group where one member volunteer guide you with a particular recipe and others follow. An online event to be precise, where you cook as a group on a particular day planned ahead. Any queries or tips would be resolved or shared by the volunteer member at any point of time during that day.These events can help a novice to shine as a super chef among their family or friends. And being a group activity it can bring out the culinary skills in you by imparting you with new tips and skills in cooking which each member happens to share during the event. I am really thankful to the group as well as Shabina Afzal, the volunteer of this week who chose this recipe. She has given the credits to a Viral thread food video where she happened to get the recipe.

This recipe is a keeper. I use to prepare butter chicken the hard way always, sauteing the onion and tomatoes, blending it halfway through the recipe, soaking cashews and adding a paste out of it to add richness to the gravy etc etc. But this recipe now gives me the opportunity to recreate Restaurant style Butter chicken at the comfort of my home in a rather easy way .

Butter chicken aka Murgh makhani doesn’t need much of an intro. It is one among the famous Indian dishes which places Indian cuisine in a prominent position with other famous cuisines in the list of International Cuisines. And as the name suggests it is a dish based in butter along with cream and the aromatic Indian spices which makes it a Rich guilt laden dish. But a dish worth trying out occasionally.
Enough with the talk, now lets enter into the recipe…

Ingredients:

Chicken, boneless chunks : 600 gms

For the marinade:
Garlic: 4 cloves
Green chillies: 2
Ginger : an inch size
Salt: 1 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder: 2 tsp
Freshly ground Coriander seeds : 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder : 1 tsp
Cumin powder : 1 tsp
Chickpea/Gram flour :1 tbsp
Lime juice: 1 tbsp
Saffron : a pinch
Yoghurt : 1 C

For the sauce:
Butter : 75 gm + 25 gm for basting
Cardamom : 6 pods
Clove : 5 nos
Cinnamon stick : an inch piece
Dried Bay leaf :1
Onion, chopped : 1 medium
Ginger, grated : an inch piece
Green chillies, slit: 2
Chilli powder :1 tsp
Turmeric powder :1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Tomato paste: 2 Tbsp
Honey : 1-2 tsp
Dried Methi leaves/Kasuri methi:1 Tbsp
Cream : 3/4 C
Milk ,optional( If gravy required):1/2 C
Lime juice: 1/2 Tbsp
Salt as required
Coriander/ Cilantro leaves , chopped : for garnish

Directions:

In a processor, add all the ingredients for the marinade and make a smooth sauce out of it.
Marinate the chicken in the sauce for about an hour or for best results marinate overnight.
Grill the chicken chunks basted in melted butter for about 20 – 30 mins under a broiler, preferably on skewers. Keep basting with butter.
Reserve the leftover marinade.
Heat a Kadai/ wok ,melt the butter to foam and crackle the whole spices.
Next add in the chopped onions, ginger and green chillies. Stir in a little salt and saute until soft and onion turns light brown colour.
Now add the spice powders one by one.Fry for a couple of minutes.
Then throw in the tomato paste and honey. Keep on stirring until it turns a dark red paste.
At this stage you can pour in the reserved marinade. Let it simmer for 3-4 mins.
Pour in the cream. If you want more gravy you can pour in the milk or else leave it out.
Simmer for few mins before you add in the grilled chicken and kasuri methi.
Adjust the salt now. The marinade and chicken has salt so be careful.
Keep on low heat for another 5 minutes or more.Let the chicken and gravy marry their spices!
Finally squeeze in the lime juice. Give a stir, remove from heat.
Serve with a swirl of cream and chopped coriander/cilantro leaves.

And Tada! Your butter chicken is ready to savour with those succulent chicken chunks bathed in the creamy rich gravy……..you can see me droooling while typing this. 🙂

Can be served with Rotis, Naan, Rice, Chapathis etc.

Step by Step Pictorial Guide -Marination & Grilling

Step by Step Pictorial Guide for Preparation of gravy

Notes:
Original recipe called for Kashmiri chilli powder but I substituted with normal Red chilli powder.
The chicken can be Tawa/Pan fried instead of grilling if you have no option to grill.