Monday 4 July 2011

Murgh Makhani / Butter Chicken


Butter Chicken apparently originated in a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Delhi in the 1950s. The chef had some leftover chicken tikka which was too dry to serve to the customers, so he made a tomato based buttery sauce and voila Butter Chicken was born!


4 chicken breasts; cut into 2-inch chunks)
Marinade
1 lime; juiced
½ cup yogurt
1-tablespoon oil
2-teaspoon paprika
2 inch piece of ginger; grated
4 garlic cloves; minced
1 or more green chilies; minced
1-teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
Salt to taste
Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 table spoon oil
2 medium onions; chopped fine
1 400g-can plum tomatoes; blended
1-teaspoon tomato puree
2-tablespoons cashew nuts; ground
3-4 cloves garlic; minced
2-inch piece ginger; grated
2 chilies; minced
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1-teaspoon cumin powder
½ cup cream
½ teaspoon garam masala

Method.
Mix the marinade ingredients
Marinade the chicken for at least two hours (overnight if possible)
Grease a large baking tray; place the chicken on the tray and cook in the oven at 220oC for 15 minutes
Meanwhile fry the onion in the butter and oil mixture until translucent.
Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, ginger and green chilies; stir and cook until you can see the butter.
Add the cashew nuts, mix well
Add the cumin, coriander powders.
Add the chicken and cook for about 10 minutes; add the cream
Add garam masala
Serve with nan bread.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great recipes! how about with khushali coming up, a recipe for sharbat drink!

Saju said...

that is a good idea, I will buy the ingredients tomorrow and share the recipe

Priya Suresh said...

Looks delicious n yummy..soo tempting..

Aliya said...

To get a smokey flavor you can light up a peice of charcoal and secure it in a bowl of tin foil and place it on the finished butter chicken (the tin with stay on top and wont sink). Close the lid until ready to serve and your butter chicken will come out like it was smoked on charcoal!!

Saju said...

Thanks for that Aliya

Mubeena M. said...

made this last nite....was fabulous. Thanks for a great recipe.

Aalia Shamji said...

Saju aunty - I tried this on the weekend and it was sooo delicious! Aliya's tip really added a lovely smokey taste to the chicken, I would definitely recommend this. Mum helped but we put the lit charcoal (glowing red, not on fire) into a basket we made of foil and then quickly tipped a small egg cup full of oil onto the charcoal. We quickly put the lid on the dish and covered with a towel (there was a LOT of smoke!). After about 15 mins, we removed this coal and foil. We did this just before the chicken went into the fridge before marinading. Brilliant dish - will be making for friends next week!

Anonymous said...

I made it today for iftar and it was delicious, I made a few minor changes though.I used baby chicken instead because I did not have boneless and made big slits in it before marinating it.For the sauce I fried the onions and added some Shaan fry ghost masala, about two tablespoons before adding the rest of the ingredients.I also added some of the left over marinade to the sauce. The chicken came out so tender as I let it cook in the sauce for at least 20 minutes after it came out of the oven. It was delicious and tasted just like the restaurant one!

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