Butter Chicken – Indian Tadka to a Global Cuisine

Chicken Makhani, which is also known as Butter Chicken is probably one of the most popular dishes in the Indian cuisine.

Butter Chicken traces its history back to a man called Kundan Lal Gujral, who owned the Moti Mahal restaurant in pre-partition India. Mr. Gujral is widely known to have made the first Butter Chicken.

Legend has it that the cooks of Moti Mahal would mix leftover juices from their marination with butter and tomato puree, and add the chicken into a hot tandoor to cook it.

You can use any chicken pieces you want, but the traditional butter chicken is made with boneless chicken pieces. The chicken is coated in spices and yogurt and marinated for a few hours, before being cooked in a tomato gravy with additional spices and topped off with milk and cream.

The Butter Chicken is low on the spices, hence its a perfect dish for kids too!

The butter chicken can be eaten with naan or rice, or by itself! A simple yet extremely delicious recipe!

Ingredients (to marinate)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 kg boneless chicken

1 cup thick yogurt

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp red chili powder

2½ tsp garam masala (Recipe: https://old.desidaawat.com/garam-masala/)

4 tbsp lemon juice

salt, to taste

a pinch of red food colouring, optional

Ingredients (for the gravy)

1 kg tomatoes

water, as needed (to boil the tomatoes)

50 gms butter

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 bay leaves

3-4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

salt, to taste

2½ tsp red chili powder

2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala (Recipe: https://old.desidaawat.com/garam-masala/)

2 tsp kasoori methi

1½ cups of milk

¾ cup cream

2 tsp tomato ketchup

Directions

This is the list of ingredients.

Skin and clean the chicken.

Take a clean bowl and add some oil.

To that, add the chicken.

Then, add the yogurt.

Next, add the ginger and garlic paste.

Then, add the red chili powder.

Next, add the garam masala.

Then, add the lemon juice and salt.

Then, add the red food colouring. Adding this is completely optional.

Mix together all of the ingredients for the marinade together with the chicken.

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Add oil to a pan and cook the chicken or bake it in an oven till done and set it aside.

Remove the top of the tomatoes.

At the bottom of the tomatoes, make a cross with your knife. This helps the skin to come off easily.

Do that for all the tomatoes.

Take a clean bowl.

Add water and ice and prepare an ice bath.

In a clean pot, bring water to a boil.

Carefully, add the tomatoes one by one.

Boil them for a minute or till you see the skin of the tomatoes loosen.

Take the tomatoes of the heat and pick one with a big spoon.

Carefully, dunk it into the ice bath.

Do that for all the tomatoes.

After about a minute, with your fingers, remove the skin of the tomatoes.

Grind the tomatoes with the water in a blender to form a smooth puree.

In a separate pan, heat the butter on a low heat and add the ginger and garlic paste. Then, add the bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon stick and sauté for a couple of minutes.