Butter Chicken – With a Twist
Now recreating this aromatic staple has been made extremely simple through the following steps. So let's step together into this delicious cauldron and come out with a masterpiece.
- 25 grams Cumin seeds
- 25 grams Cinnamon
- 25 grams Black cardamom
- 5 grams Green cardamom
- 10 grams Cloves
- 10 grams Black pepper
- 5 grams Caraway seed
- 2 Mace flowers
- 5 grams Dry ginger
- 1/2 Nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon Ginger
- 1 tablespoon Garlic
- 3 tablespoons Coriander leaves
- 6-8 Mint leaves
- 2 Green chillies
- 1.5 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder
- 3/4 teaspoons Salt
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 100 grams Hung yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice ((Optional))
- 750 grams Chicken
- 3 cups Fresh tomato puree
- 3-4 tablespoons Tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Garam masala
- 4-5 Green chillies (chopped fine)
- 3 tablespoons Ground cashews
- 1 tablespoon Ginger garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons Dry fenugreek powder
- 5 tablespoons Chopped coriander leaves
- 3-4 tablespoons Fresh cream
- 4-5 tablespoons Butter
- Prepare garam masala
Dry roast the ingredients for the garam masala. Cool, grind and store in an airtight container.
- Marinate chicken
Wash and pat dry chicken pieces. Grind together ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander and mint leaves. Marinate chicken with the above ground paste and rest of the ingredients listed under marinade for 1 to 2 hrs or overnight.
- Smoking chicken
Burn 2 small pieces of charcoal on the stove. Place it in a small bowl. Place this bowl in the center of the marinated chicken. Pour one tbsp. of ghee over the charcoal. Quickly cover the bowl containing chicken. Keep it covered for 15 min so that the chicken absorbs the smokiness of the charcoal.
- Cook chicken
Heat a heavy bottom pan. Place the chicken pieces on the hot pan and cook the chicken on both sides on high flame for 10 to 15 min without any oil or ghee. Transfer the chicken into a bowl. Reserve the extra marinade for later.
- Prepare the gravy
Blanch 5 to 6 medium tomatoes. Peel the skin and grind. Melt butter in the pan which we used for cooking chicken. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 min. Add tomato puree and cook until the water evaporates. Add tomato paste, extra marinade (if any) cashew ground (grind raw cashews with water into a fine paste) and cook until the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add water or fresh chicken stock and cook for 2 min.
- Add chicken to the gravy
Add garam masala, dry fenugreek powder to the gravy. Cook for 2 min and add chicken, half of coriander leaves, green chillies. Taste the gravy and add salt to taste. Simmer on medium flame. Add water or fresh chicken stock as needed.Cook chicken until it is tender and has absorbed the flavors. Add the rest of the coriander leaves. The gravy should be buttery and rich and bursting with flavors of garam masala and fenugreek. Take it off the flame. Drizzle cream and serve warm.