This is a super simple recipe on Indian butter chicken that will deliver restaurant-quality results!
If you found your way here, you probably already know butter chicken, traditionally known as murgh makhani, is an insanely delicious Indian dish served with a creamy sauce made from tomatoes and butter. I’ve made multiple attempts at creating North Indian butter chicken and failed miserably in every single one of them. Never did I expect the perfect recipe would be served to me by a girl from Punjab!
Manvi is a lady that I met at a business dinner. While my hubby and her colleague were busy talking tech stuff, I found out that she has a mutual passion for cooking. When I discovered her origins, I naturally HAD to ask that all-important question: “Do you know how to make butter chicken?”
Of course she did!
As she began to recite the ingredient list and the instructions on the spot, I quickly whipped out my phone.
Since I’ve got most of the ingredients, I decided to implement Project Butter Chicken last weekend.
Full disclosure: I did Malaysianise it a little. Since I don’t have access to kashmiri chilli powder, which gives butter chicken its signature orange-red colour, I used 2 fresh red chillies and 3 green chillies, instead of the 4 green chillies as recommended. (On that note, let me share a thumb rule we Malaysians apply with regards to when we use fresh and dry chillies: it’s fresh ones for colour and dried ones for heat.)
Other than that, I stuck to her instructions. Oh boy, it worked. Almost restaurant-quality, if I say so myself.
What I love about Manvi’s butter chicken recipe is its SIMPLICITY
Getting the balance of flavours for the sauce has always been tricky for me. Manvi’s order of business makes the process easy enough for a child to do:
1. Chop the vegetables and aromatics and saute them lightly in oil.
2. Blitz the vegetables with a blender and then pass it through a strainer to get a smooth paste.
3. Melt up some butter. To this, add your spices and let the butter do its job. In chefspeak, the hot fat helps “temper/bloom” the spices i.e. the heat releases the volatile oils locked within the spices, unleashing more aroma and flavour.
4. Add in the blended tomato paste, adjust for seasoning and voila. Job done!
I used to think Indian cooking was sooooo complicated. I realise it boils down to the individual cook. Many home cooks, like my mum, are very innovative, and have discovered their own processes and kitchen hacks which amplify taste and save time to boot!
Now excuse me while I make an aloo bhindi (potato okra fry) to go with my finally-and-wildly-successful butter chicken.
Indian Butter Chicken
Equipment
- Deep-based pot
- Blender
- Strainer
- Frying pan
Ingredients
Chicken
- 200 g chicken thigh, cut into bite-size chunks boneless and skinless
- 2 tbs hung yogurt
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbs lemon juice
Sauce
- 4 red tomatoes
- 2 red onions
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 thumb-sized ginger
- 10 cashew nuts soaked in water minimum 2 hrs
- cooking oil
- 25 g butter
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- Salt
- Sugar
- Garam masala
- Dash of cream
Instructions
- Marinate chicken in yogurt, lemon juice, salt and lemon juice for at least an hour.
- In the meantime, chop up tomatoes, onions, chillies, garlic and ginger so they are easier to blend later.
- Heat up oil in cooking pot. Add chopped vegetables and cashew nuts. Stir-fry over low to moderate heat for a few minutes, until the onions start to brown. Set vegetables aside until cool enough to handle.
- Transfer vegetables to a blender. Blitz until you achieve a smooth pourable paste.
- Heat up oil in frying pan. Fry marinated chicken pieces a few minutes on both sides until you achieve browning. At this stage, the chicken is not fully cooked inside. The cooking will be completed in the sauce later.
- Now, heat up butter in cooking pot. Add a stick of cinnamon, coriander and cumin powder.
- Add sauce in. Cook for 10-15 minutes to extract maximum flavour. Remove cinnamon stick.
- Mix in chicken and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Season with sugar, salt and garam masala. Add a dash of cream, as per your liking. Serve!