Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

Butter Chicken has been a sole dish that represents India globally. It won't be an exaggeration if we can assume every human on this planet connects with Butter Chicken and to the country it belongs to. I have been away from my country for more than 10 years now and I can say that this dish has not been correctly represented far away from home. It might probably be because to adjust to the specific demographic of the country. But then if we loose the essence of the dish then how will we be able to represent our country correctly? 

Being a foodie myself I would prefer to eat a Mexican dish which is true to the people of that country, similarly Italian, French or any other cuisine for that matter. When I see the Butter Chicken mended as per the people of the country I feel we are depriving them form the true roots of India. We are not truly introducing them to the "Real India" and it's "Delicacies". 

I saw my friends and colleagues trying different places for Butter Chicken just to taste and feel "INDIA". That's when I had to stop them and provide them truly with the Real Butter Chicken recipe that we as Indians approve of. During this process I went through many videos and blog and with the help of them I made sure I include little bit of everything in this dish.

Let's have a look at the recipe:

Ingredients for Makhani Sauce:

3-4 medium sized sliced Onions

1 small sized chopped Onions

2 garlic cloves chopped

3-4 medium sized sliced Tomatoes

3-4 Red Kashmiri Chilies whole

5-6 Garlic Cloves

1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)

1 inch Ginger

1/3 cup Cashew

3 tbsp Red Kashmiri Chili Powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tbsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Kasuri Methi

2 Whole Green Chilies

2-3 Green Cardamom

Coriander Stems (Handful should be good)

Cream

2 tbsp Sugar

1 tsp garam Masala

3 cup Hot Water (Won't require all of the water but its better to have it handy)

Butter to cook

Oil to Cook

Ingredients for Chicken Marination

1 Chicken Breast

1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste

1 tsp Aamchur powder

1/2 tsp Black Salt

1 tsp Turmeric powder

2 tbsp Red Kashmiri Chili Powder

1 tbsp Coriander Powder

1 tps Cumin Powder (Jeera Powder)

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Kasuri Methi

1 tbsp chopped Mint (Pudina)

Chopped Coriander

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 cup Thick Curd (Strain out the water using a cloth)

1 tsp Lemon Juice

Salt to taste

Method:

Clean the chicken well and slice the chicken into thin pieces using a knife and keep it aside.

In a mixing bowl add ingredients mentioned in "Marination" section and mix well using a whisk. Once all ingredients are mixed  well add sliced chicken and cover it well with the ingredients. 

Keep it aside or if need be refrigerate it for 4 hours. I personally prefer overnight marination for tastier results, but if time is an issue then at least let the chicken sit for min 30 mins with marination or max 4 hours.

OPTIONAL: Take a piece of Coal and heat it up. Take a square cut of aluminum foil and place the heated coal with help of tongs on the foil. Add 2 tbsp Ghee (Clarified Butter) on it and keep it in the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with the lid and let it rest for 5 min. This step adds Smokey flavor to the chicken.

In a pot add 2 tbsp Oil and let it heat well on medium flame. Once the oil is hot enough add Cumin Seeds and let it splutter.

Once the cumin seeds start spluttering add sliced onions to it. Using a spatula mix the onion well for oil to coat every slice evenly.

Let the onion cook for 10 minutes until they translucent on medium flame. We do not want them to burn orelse it will give the sauce burnt flavor which we do not desire for.

Add Garlic, Ginger, Red Kashmiri Chilies whole, Turmeric powder, Coriander powder, Kasuri Methi, Whole Green Chilies, Green Cardamom in the mentioned quantity.

Mix all ingredients well and then add Tomatoes, Cashew, coriander stems, sugar and salt.

Give all ingredients a good stir and cover the lid of the pot. Let the Makhani Sauce patiently cook for 20 -30 mins on low flame. This is a very "IMPORTANT" step. The whole essence of this dish is the Makhani sauce hence take time in this step.

Meanwhile the Makhani Sauce is cooking in a separate pan add 1 tbsp butter and 1 tsp Oil and let it heat up. Once the butter and oil are hot enough add chicken pieces one at a time and cook them 2 minutes on each side. Take care not to burn it, as butter has tendency to burn quickly and thus turning our chicken black.

                                              

After cooking the chicken let it cool down. Later on using a knife cut the pieces into little more smaller pieces.

Let's check up on the makhani sauce after 20 mins. At this point of time add 2 tbsp butter and mix all ingredients well. If required add 1/2 cup of hot water to adjust the consistency and mix it well. Do not add too much water.

Keep the makhani sauce on low flame for another 10 mins. After 10 mins turn off the flame and let the sauce cool down.

Once the sauce is cooled enough, add it to the grinder and grind it a fine paste. While grinding if required you can add water but very limited quantity. We need the sauce consistency to be thick and not watery. If possible AVOID water. But some grinders might give tough time grinding the ingredients. In that and only that case add 3 tbsp of water. 

Below is the image of sauce and its consistency.

In the same pot add 2 tbsp of Butter and 1 tbsp oil and let it heat up on medium flame. Add chopped onions and chopped garlic to the pot and mix it well. 

Add 1 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder and mix all ingredients well.

With the help of strainer strain the sauce to get rid of unwanted ingredients which did not get grinded during the process. This way the sauce will have smooth texture. This step can be done before hand and kept aside. I did it when I was cooking onion and garlic and directly had it straining in the pot. But to each to his own, if you are not comfortable then you can strain the sauce first and keep it aside. While straining the sauce if required you can surely add 1/2 of water to the mixer container and get the remaining sauce as well.

Add the strained sauce to the pot and mix it well. Let the sauce cook on medium flame. Add 1 tbsp sugar to the sauce and mix it well on medium flame while stirring it in intervals. Check the consistency and seasoning at this point and if required you can adjust salt accordingly. 

Add chopped chicken pieces to sauce and mix it well on low flame. Remember at this point all the ingredient are cooked, we are just assimilating them to make a dish. Hence avoid high flame altogether.

Add 1/2 cup of water ONLY AND ONLY if you think the consistency is thick. Add 1 tsp Garam Masala to the sauce and mix it.

After 5 mins add 2 tbsp Butter and 3 tbsp Cream to the dish and mix it well.

Garnish with Coriander and serve hot with Tandoori Rotis