Butter chicken, another North Indian delicacy, very famous and almost available in every Indian restaurant and take away but all of them does not taste good or authentic. With this recipe you can get the most authentic and great flavour of butter chicken because it has been mastered after 4 trials.

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKEN

• 4 chicken thigh fillets (cut into big chunks/ 3 pcs. Per thigh fillet)
• 1 tspn roasted gram flour (besan)
• Salt to taste
• A generous pinch of chicken salt
• 1 tspn red chilli powder
• 1 tspn cumin powder
• 1 tspn special masala (a pinch of nigella seeds, a pinch of garam masala, a pinch of kasuri methi, a small pinch of ajwain, a pinch of black pepper corns and a pinch of cloves grind into a powder)
• 1 tbspn yogurt
• 1 tspn mustard oil
• 1 tson ginger garlic and green chilli paste
• A pinch of meat tenderizer

FOR CURRY

• 3 tbspns oil
• 2 generous knobs of butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 big cardamom
• 3 small cardamoms
• A stick of cinnamon
• ½ tspn cumin seeds
• 1 tbspn kasuri methi
• 3 tbspns cooking cream
• 1 large onion
• 2 large tomatoes (cut into chunks)
• 1 tbspn tomato paste
• 3 cloves of garlic
• A small piece of ginger
• 3 tbspns cashew nuts
• 2 small green chillies
• Some cream and chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

FOR CHICKEN

1. Wash, pat dry and cut chicken into chunks.
2. Apply all the dry spices and ginger garlic paste mixed with mustard oil and keep aside for 20 minutes.
3. Now add gram flour and yogurt and mix well. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
4. Heat the grill plan to high and grill the chicken chunks to 3 mins per side. (Do not flip over and over, just 2 flips are fine)
5. Keep aside until needed.

FOR CURRY

1. Heat oil and sweat the onions. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and all the whole spices along with cashews. Saute for around 2 minutes and add tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook on medium heat with the lid on until the tomatoes are mushy.  Add water if needed.
2. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for a bit. Take out the bay leaf and cinnamon. Now add 1 cup warm water and blend it to puree.
3. Pass it through the sieve to get the silky smooth curry and discard the residue.
4. Heat the same pan and melt 2 knobs of butter. When the butter is melted and hot add the curry. Let it simmer for 2 minutes, then add fenugreek leaves by crushing between your palms to get the extra flavour and fragrance and add cream. Stir and add the grilled chicken and let it cook in the curry for 1 minute.
5. Take it out in the serving bowl, let it cool for 2 minutes and then garnish with cream and coriander.
6. Serve with boiled rice/ naan/ garlic naan.