Butter chicken

BUTTER CHICKEN

Chicken makhni , made either with tikkas- derived from hidi word tukra and meaning pieces – or quarter of chicken , is the most popular dish in Indian restaurants both India and overseas. It is essentially a restaurant and not a homestyle dish, because there are no tandoors in Indian domestic kitchens, and this dish consist of tandoor – cooked chicken in saus4e .However, since the dish is too popular , many would like to create ot at homje , and give a simplified way to do so here , cooking the chicken in skillet . Alternatively , it is possible to roast a whole small chicken , marinating it first, then quartering it and adding the juices from the roasting pan into the makhani Isauce. Butter chicken originated in 1950s at the Moti Mhal restaurant in Delhi where they made the sauce by adding butter and tomato to the left over  chicken juices in the marinade trays from wich they used to sell hundreds of  portions of Tandoori Chicken every day.  

Serves 4                 

900gm chicken or boneless pieces

4 – 5 tablespoon oil

For the marinade

400 ml full fat yoghurt

6 garlic cloves

1 cm square of ginger fresh

2/3 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp of cumin powder

½ tsp of garam masala powder

A tiny pinch of tandoori colouring ( optional)

1/2 tspn salt

½ tspn of lime juice

For the makhani gravy

700g tomatoes

½ tspn kasuri methi

I75g chilled butter

½ tsp parika

Few drops of vinegar

¼ tsp garam masala

Salt

40g single cream

METHOD

1.       First prepare the marinade. Place the yoghurt in a piece of cheese cloth and hang to allow the whey to drip away . Puree the garlic and ginger in a blender. Add this and the marinade spices, salt and lime juice to the yogurt and mix well.

2.       Scald the tomatoes for the makhani sauce and peel off the skin. Reduce to a semi – pulp with a fork or potato masher. Put the kasuri methi into a grinder and reduce to a powder.

3.       Make gashes in the chicken if using pieces on the bone. Marinate the chicken in the yogurt mixture for at least result leave overnight.

4.       When ready to cook, heat the oil in a large, thick-bottomed skillet and put in the chicken with the marinade. Cover and cook over a low heat until done. Turn the chicken over during cooking.

5.       Put the tomato pulp into a frying pan and cook for 5 minutes or so until the liquid has evaporated slightly. Add the chilled butter and paprika; after the butter has melted, let it cook for just 1 minute. Taste. If it is not sour, add a few drops of vinegar. Add the kasuri methi, garam masala powder and salt to taste. After 30 seconds, add the cream and stir. The sauce is now ready. Pour it into the skillet and mix well with the chicken. Serve immediately.

6.       If butter is cooked for as long as 3 minutes it will turn into ghee and become a grainy emulsion. So start with chilled butter and cook for less than 2 minutes after the butter has melted.

7.       You can cook the chicken ahead of time. But makhani sauce takes only 5-6 minutes to prepare and should be made when the dish is to be eaten. You can cook the tomato ahead, but add the butter just before serving. In India, restaurants mix a little raw papaya puree into the marinade as a tenderiser .