Butter Chicken recipe
Tender juicy tandoori chicken pieces dipped in buttery creamy tomato gravy.
Ingredients
For first marinade
- 1 kgs chicken Skinless and boneless
- lemon juice Juice of one lemon
- salt
- degi mirchi/ kashmiri mirch powder paprika can be used
For second marinade
- 2 tbsp yoghurt hung curd/ or thick yoghurt / greek yoghurt
- 2 tsp mustard oil
- a pinch of saffron dipped in 1/2 tsp of warm water
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp tandoori powder
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 1 inch slice of ginger
- 1 green chilli
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- salt
- 1/2 tsp kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves) handcrused
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
For the gravy
- 2-3 tbsp butter use home made unsalted or store bought salted or unsalted
- 1 bay leaf
- 4-5 pods cardamom slightly crushed
- 3-4 black pepper whole
- 2-3 cloves whole
- 1 inch cinnamon stick whole
- 1 small Onion Chopped fine
- 3 medium tomatoes Pureed
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1 inch slice of ginger grated
- ginger juliennes
- 4-5 green chillies slit long
- 7-8 cashews (if using)dipped in warm water for 15-20 min
- 1 tbsp melon seeds (is using) dipped in warm water for 15-20 min
- 1/2-3/4 cup thick cream
- salt as per taste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp degi mirchi powder/ kashmiri chilli powder can use mild paprika instead
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 2 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- 1 tsp sugar/ honey/ jaggery
- fresh coriander for garnishing
- 1 tbsp butter for garnish
- 1 tbsp cream garnishing
Instructions
First Marinade
- Mix lemon juice, salt and Chilli (either of the three-paprika/ degi mirchi powder/ Kashmiri chilli powder).
- Dip chicken pieces in the marinade, and coat the pieces nicely, with the marinade. Cover the bowl with a cling film, and keep in the refrigerator for half an hour
Second marinade
- Make a rough paste of the garlic/ green chilli and ginger.
- Mix all the ingredients of the second marinade together - yoghurt, ginger garlic green chilli paste, mustard oil, saffron dipped in water, cumin powder, tandoori powder, garam masala powder, salt, hand crushed kasoori methi ,red chilli powder.
- Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces (which are already marinated in the first marinade), cover these with the second marinade.Mix well.
- Cover the bowl with a cling film, and keep marinated in the refrigerator for a minimum for 4-5 hrs, or even overnight if you are preparing these ahead of time.
Butter chicken sauce / gravy
- If you are using cashews and melon seeds- Blend and Make a paste of these.
- In a thick bottomed pan, heat butter .
- Add bay leaf, and rest of the whole spices-cardamom, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon stick.Temper this for a minute.
- Add grated ginger and garlic, sauté these for 2-3 minutes, till the raw aroma goes away.
- Add chopped onions, and sauté, till these are golden brown.
- Add tomato puree, and sauté till the masala leaves oil on the sides, and is done.
- If you are using the cashew/ melon seeds paste, add the paste at this step, and mix well. You need to keep stirring so that the paste does not stick to the pan. This would need 2-3 minutes on medium heat.Add half quantity of the cream.
- Now add the dry spices-salt, red chilli powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, garam masala, kasoori methi.Mix well.
- Add a cup of water, and simmer for a minute, till it starts boiling
- Add rest of the cream cream, and mix well.
- Add a little sugar or honey. You can even use jaggery to sweeten this.Mix well.
To prepare tandoori chicken
- Put the marinated chicken pieces, on a skewer, and heat on a wire rack for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees
- Turn them once after 10 minutes, so that it is done on all sides.
- Once almost done,Brush butter on the chicken pieces.and grill it for almost 2-5 minutes.
- Add the tandoori chicken pieces in hot gravy and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add a dollop of butter, and a splash of cream.Mix.
- Garnish it with ginger juliennes, and slit green chillies, more cream. Serve it hot with butter naan, and Indian pickled onions.
Notes
Options to replace dairy (butter and cream)-
- Use regular cooking oil/ olive oil instead of butter,if you do not want to use butter at all.
- Instead of cream, you can use cashew paste - It is a good alternative for dairy free cream. Dip half cup of cashews in warm water for half an hour or more. Once they are a little soft, blend therein a blender to make cashew paste.
- If you do not want to use too many cashews, you can even use cashew and muskmelon seeds paste. This is a good and healthier alternative to using cream, or just cashews.To make this take 1/4 cup of cashews and half a cup of musk melon seeds. mix both and dip in warm water for half an hour or more. Once soft, blend these in a mixer/ blender to form a paste.
- In this recipe, i have used yoghurt in the chicken marinade. However if you do not want to use yoghurt , completely skip adding it to the marinade. Or else,Instead make a paste of a tbsp of chickpea flour and little water and add it to the marinade inlace of yoghurt and add rest of the spices as in the recipe.