Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)

Butter Chicken is probably the most popular North Indian curry, enjoyed by so many cultures now. It's beautiful blend of spices, tomato, yoghurt and cream makes it a mild and balanced curry which you can make as spicy as you like. I usually keep this one pretty mild as I often team it with a beef vindaloo which I like hot.  Indian restaurants around the world have adapted the traditional butter chicken to accommodate the Western palate and so as a result, the recipes I found on the web were not nearly as authentic and true to Indian flavors as they should have been. This is a recipe I devised myself from a number of books and remembering some tips I learned at an Indian masterclass in Sydney with Ajoy Joshi. I am not suggesting I'm an expert in Indian cuisine by any stretch but this tasted incredible, as good as the best version of butter chicken I've ever had!

Mark and I hosted a "curry-fest" the other day with our neighbors and so the next few posts will be the delicious spread we enjoyed. I hope you take the time and effort to give some of these fabulous curries a try... it is worth every minute.  They freeze well so why not make the large batch below and save some for another time.

Serves 10-12 as part of an Indian meal

Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 tbspn vegetable oil
3 brown onions, finely diced
1/3 cup ghee (clarified butter) or butter
2 tspn salt
4 tblspn garlic, crushed
4 tblspn ginger, minced
2 tspn garam marsala
2 tspn ground coriander
2 tspn chili powder
2 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground fenugreek seeds, use a spice grinder
2/3 cup natural plain yoghurt
1 cup heavy cream
2.5 x 410g tin tomatoes, pureed
1 tspn cayenne pepper
2 tspn turmeric
1/2 cup finely chopped cashew nuts
2 tspn honey
2 fresh green chili's, chopped
handful of freshly chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

Marinade for chicken
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 kg / 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cut into bit size pieces
1/2 tspn cayenne pepper
1/2 tspn garam marsala

Method:

• Dice the chicken and marinate it in a large bowl with the lemon juice, anywhere from 30mins to 2hrs.
• Pre-heat the oven to 380'F / 190'C
• Drain the chicken and place the chicken pieces on a baking tray in a single level.  Bake without turning for 12 mins.  Remove from oven and set aside.  Shake the garam masala and cayenne pepper over the chicken.
• Heat the oil and ghee in a large saucepan.  Saute the onions and add the salt, cook until translucent approx 5-8mins.
• Add the garlic, ginger, garam marsala, ground coriander, chili powder, cumin, fenugreek seeds and stir until fragrant. 
• Puree the tomatoes using a hand mixer before adding to the saucepan
• Stir in the yoghurt, cream, cashew nuts, turmeric, cayenne pepper, fresh chili peppers and continue to cook until combined, the tomatoes are cooked and the sauce has thicken slightly.
• Add the chicken pieces and cook stirring frequently until chicken is cooked through, about 5-8mins. 
• Stir in cilantro.  Taste and add salt and/or honey if necessary.

Serve as part of an Indian meal with Naan, cucumber raita and a cold beer!

Note to my US friends:  Fenugreek seeds are not so easy to find but the Spice House have them.  You'll also find garam marsala there if you don't see it in the usual places.