Topic: Looking for Butter Chicken advice

[Wonka]

It is my husbands birthday Tuesday (29th). He, and the kids, have all asked me to make Butter Chicken. I have a so-so recipe. They want a gravy that is  nice and red (my recipe comes out a light orange, I think from too much cream added) and has the taste they get at restaurants. The recipe I use, I combined from two different sources. The marinade I received from a retired chef that he wrote while talking to the chef at his local Indian restaurant. It's good. I think I'm needed help with the gravy more that the rest.

My original gravy recipe has a ratio of 3 cups tomatoes, pureed, to 10 Tbsp butter and 1 1/2 cups of whippiing cream. I think there is way too much butter and cream. Heart attack on a plate.

I have found a few other recipes. One has 2 cup tomatoes, pureed with 3/4 cup liquid from the can with only 2 Tbsp butter (added cold at the end) and 1/2 cup of whipping cream. This recipe also has 2 Tbsp ground cashews.

The next recipe has 400 g tomato puree, with 50 g butter and 1 cup cream.

What do you think?

The rest of the chili and spices are all pretty similar in all three recipe.

I look forward to your comments.

[Secret Santa]

Hi wonka

I had a friend from Canada and he absolutely loved the curries we have here and thought that the curries in Canada were pale imitations by comparison. So you see the difficulty in recommending what you should do to make it the way you or, in particular, your family are used to.

To compound the problem everyone here will undoubtedly have different opinions of what constitutes a good butter chicken because of regional variations.

That said, these are my thoughts.

The red colour is almost certainly from food colouring and not substantially from any ingredient (add it if it makes you happy, omit it if you value your health).

The best butter chicken I have had was light orange in colour (yes, just like yours!) and had a very definite tandoori masala flavour reminiscent of a chicken tikka masala. It also tasted very buttery.

If you want to try to achieve this version, take any CTM recipe on this forum, and either omit, or substantially reduce, both the sugar and coconut, but otherwise make it to the spec of the recipe. If the recipe doesn't include any dried fenugreek leaf (kasoori methi) add at least one good teaspoon. Also don't use ordinary oil, use only butter ghee.

At the end add lots of butter (not ghee, actual butter) to taste. When I say at the end I mean that literally, you could even stir it in when it's at the table for maximum buttery effect.

Like I said, this is my take on it, it's nice but probably won't be what you're used to.

Best of luck anyhow.

[Wonka]

Thank-you for your thoughts.

I was pretty sure that mine was paler due to the lack of food colouring (which I will not put in).

I will check out the Chicken Tikka Masala recipes.

[Cory Ander]

Hi Wonka,

You will find some Butter Chicken recipes here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=63.0

You will also find other discussions on "butter chicken" using the search function at the top left side of the page.

Hope this helps 

[joshallen2k]

Hi Wonka,

I live in Canada and have had curries from many places here, including Vancouver.

They do not even come remotely close to what you get in the UK. Every Indian place here does a "Butter Chicken" or "Murgh Makhani". They are hit and miss, and even the best ones aren't that good.

If you really want to impress your husband, follow a real BIR curry base and one of the Chicken Tikka Masala recipes (similar to butter chicken, but better). To keep it simple use this one, as it has a matching base gravy recipe.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3999.0

For simplicity, you can probably omit the spiced oil (as this would be your first base+curry). You may want to refer to some of the beginner threads on this site about how base gravies work, curries, spice mixes, etc. Authentic Indian (like the ones you probably use) tends to make the whole curry from scratch. BIR cooking has several component parts (usually).

Good luck and holler for help if you need it.

-- Josh

[Wonka]

Thanks for the advice.  I've managed to waste an entire day researching butter chicken, lol.  I am now off to check out spice mixes on this site.

[Unclebuck]

Hi wonka

I had a friend from Canada and he absolutely loved the curries we have here and thought that the curries in Canada were pale imitations by comparison. So you see the difficulty in recommending what you should do to make it the way you or, in particular, your family are used to.

To compound the problem everyone here will undoubtedly have different opinions of what constitutes a good butter chicken because of regional variations.

That said, these are my thoughts.

The red colour is almost certainly from food colouring and not substantially from any ingredient (add it if it makes you happy, omit it if you value your health).

The best butter chicken I have had was light orange in colour (yes, just like yours!) and had a very definite tandoori masala flavour reminiscent of a chicken tikka masala. It also tasted very buttery.

If you want to try to achieve this version, take any CTM recipe on this forum, and either omit, or substantially reduce, both the sugar and coconut, but otherwise make it to the spec of the recipe. If the recipe doesn't include any dried fenugreek leaf (kasoori methi) add at least one good teaspoon. Also don't use ordinary oil, use only butter ghee.

At the end add lots of butter (not ghee, actual butter) to taste. When I say at the end I mean that literally, you could even stir it in when it's at the table for maximum buttery effect.

Like I said, this is my take on it, it's nice but probably won't be what you're used to.

Best of luck anyhow.

Absolute and complete sence from SS here, Remember this recipe getting good reviews also
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2682.0

[JerryM]

i make this all the time. not a fan of butter chicken myself but it does taste good.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2100.msg33388#msg33388

[Wonka]

Thanks everyone for your input. Here is the recipe I have settled on. Wish me luck.

Butter Chicken
This is a recipe I quickly scribbled down from a TV programme years ago featuring two sisters who teach Indian cookery from their own homes.  Over time, I have adapted the quantities and ingredients to suit my own taste until it has ended up something like this.

Stage 1 - Chicken Tikka and Marinade Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 1/2 tsp. salt
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp. natural yogurt (more if required but enough to coat the chicken)
3 to 4 tbsp. vegetable oil (optional)
4 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. red chilli powder (less if you don?t want it spicy)
2 tsp. tandoori masala
2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
1 tsp. finely chopped or crushed ginger
3 tsp. finely chopped or crushed garlic
3 to 4 finely chopped green chills (or less if you want less heat)

Stage 1 - Method:

1. Rub the salt and lemon juice into the chicken
2. Whisk the yoghurt, add vegetable oil and spices.  If you want a less fattening mixture, omit the oil and increase the amount of yoghurt
3. Add the ginger, garlic and chillis
4. Coat the chicken in the marinade, preferably in a glass bowl and marinade overnight or for at least 6 hours.
5. Preheat your oven as high as it will go, and when ready to cook the chicken, turn it down to Gas Mark 6.
6. Place the chicken on a foiled baking sheet or roasting dish, cook for approximately 15 to 20 minutes then remove and drain off the juices.

Stage 2 - Makhani Sauce Ingredients 1:

2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp. chopped or crushed ginger
1 1/2 tsp. chopped or crushed garlic
2 chopped fresh green chillis (if you want less heat use less)
1 to 2 tsp. paprika
5 cloves
4 green cardamoms
1 tsp. salt

Stage 2 - Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Leave to cool then remove the cloves and cardamoms.
3. Place the sauce in a blender and blend till smooth.
4. Then pass the sauce through a sieve.  You should get most of the sauce through, leaving only the seeds from the tomatoes.

Stage 3 - Makhani Sauce Ingredients 2:

150 grams butter
3 tsp. ground cumin
1 to 2 tsp. honey
2 tbsp. tomato puree
3 tsp. ground fenugreek seeds (or less of you prefer)
juice of one lemon
130 ml. double cream
1 tsp. garam masala
coriander leaves, torn or chopped

Stage 3 - Method:

1. Melt the butter and gently fry the cumin powder
2. Add the sieved tomato sauce, stir, add the tomato puree and honey, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes
3. Add the crushed fenugreek seeds and lemon juice
4. Add the double cream and garam masala and simmer gently until the sauce thickens
5. Now add the pre-cooked chicken and heat through
6. Serve with chopped coriander leaves to decorate

[joshallen2k]

Seems like a ton of work, but nothing there stands out as "won't work".

Let us know how it goes.

-- Josh