Butter Chicken / Murgh Makhani

[fstr n u]

9 chicken thighs (boneless) cut into small to medium sized strips (ie large bay leaves in terms of size...which is usually a 1/4 to 1/3 size of boneless thigh)
2 glass jars of Tomato Passata (strained tomatoes).  Each jar is 680mls.
250 mls 35% whipping cream
Oil: we use grapespeed, but you can use vegetable or other....
1/2 large onion diced finely
10 cashews (rinsed if salted and allowed to dry)...then crushed in a mortar so cashews are finely ground-ish
1 heaping tsp of garlic puree and 1 heaping tsp ginger puree
2 tsp Deggi Mirch (or 1 tsp paprika & 1 tsp kashmiri pdr)
1 tsp Tandoori Masala
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp fenugreek leaves ground into a mortar with any long stems not ground removed
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon pdr (powder)
1/8 tsp cloves ground/pdr
1-1/4 tsp table salt
1 tsp cumin pdr
4-6 tsp table sugar (honey can be used as well)

Steps: (please note you'll need 2 pans)
A. In a separate pan, add oil and once at med heat, add diced chicken thighs.  Once the meat is 90% cooked through, remove and place into bowl and allow to rest.  This process usually takes approx 10-20 mins depending on thickness of meat, size of pan, heat, etc.  You can marinade meat but we've found marinating does little to affect final results of butter chicken/murgh makhani...(and given the use of full cream later in the recipe, we skip adding actual butter at any point in the recipe)

1. saute onions in oil until translucent (med to low heat)
2. add ginger/garlic paste/puree and allow to cook for 2-5 mins (don't burn...keep on med heat)
3. Add all dry spices /cashews and mix into onion/oil.  If mixture too dry, add slight amount of water to mix well and keep from burning).  Cook x 3-5 mins
4. Remove onion/spice mixture from heat....blend until pureed finely then return to pan.  If mixture too thick from spice, add 1/4-1/2 jar of tomato passata into blender to allow blender to finely puree ingredients
5. Return blended mixture to low-med heat pan.  Add remainder of Tomato Passata and mostly cooked chicken thighs
6. Cook for another 5 mins then add 35% or full cream to pan
7. Cook for another 5 mins and taste gravy/sauce.  At this point adjust need for: salt, sugar, cinnamon or acid (by adding small amount of lemon juice (acid) if need be).

Serve with naan bread and/or rice and enjoy....
Ryan

[Stephen Lindsay]

What are your thoughts?

I know you mention it in the body of the text but there's no butter so calling it Butter Chicken is kinda not sitting with me. I have two recipes for this and both have butter.
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Of course, that doesn't take away from the fact that this looks tasty!

[livo]

I've come across this before SL. Butter Chicken is a literal translation of Murgh Makhani but the dish is not necessarily having butter as the word Makhani can also mean "as of butter" in texture.  Easily remedied though. Simply replace some or all of the oil with pure butter Ghee or just butter and be careful with heat at the start. A tbsp of butter can also be melted in at the end as a garnish.

It looks a tasty mix of spices.  Does it need over 1.6 litres of combined tomato and cream?  I suppose 9 boneless thigh fillets is a fair bit of chicken.  How many does this serve fstr n u?  I'll give it a try as Butter Chicken is a popular dish for my family.

I cooked Butter Chicken last night and my wife and son both enjoyed it, as did I. I used MasalaMark's Aussie IR method and it produces a very pleasant, sweet and buttery tomato based curry.