Butter chicken

My first memory of butter chicken or chicken makhani is eating it in Bombay, at a restaurant called Shamiana. Honestly I don't remember the taste of the butter chicken any more but I remember it being my favourite dish. Unfortunately Shamiana doesn't exist any more! :( Thankfully there are a lot of other places which serve butter chicken, probably better too! :) I thought of ordering it from our regular Indian take away, here in London, but although they have the most incredible chicken curries, the butter chicken isn't that great. So I decided to have a go at making it myself, and it actually turned out great! There are a lot of other butter chicken recipes out there but I've tried to keep it simple and less calorific (well, relatively...)

I generally marinate the chicken for 4-5 hours but 30 minutes should be good. Adjust the chilli as per your taste. I have also used kashmiri chilli powder which is milder but has a lot of flavour and gives the sauce a nice colour.

Don't get intimidated by the long list of ingredients (I am saying so because I usually do!). If I can make it so can you! ;)

Ingredients

For the sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large tomatoes, chopped

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp mango powder (amchur)

1 tsp dried kasuri methi 

1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup single cream

Butter

Salt

For the marinade

400 gms boneless chicken

2 tbsp plain low fat yoghurt

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp chilli powder

Method

Cut the chicken into strips. In a bowl add the marinade ingredients - yoghurt, oil, cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder. Add the chicken and coat it well. Leave it to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

In a non-stick pan, heat 1 tbsp oil on medium heat. Add the bay leaf and cloves and fry for a minute. Add the onions and fry until lightly brown.

Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in the ginger paste, garlic paste, cumin powder and coriander powder. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Turn the heat off and once the onions and tomatoes mixture has cooled, remove the bay leaf and cloves (you can leave the cloves in if you wish) and blend the mixture to a fine paste.

In the same pan, add 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp butter. Add the chicken pieces and fry on medium heat until the chicken is almost cooked.

Add the tomato paste to the chicken, add salt, mango powder (amchur) and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the sugar and kashmiri chilli powder. Crush the kasuri methi leaves and add to the sauce. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Turn the heat off and add the single cream. Mix well.

Garnish with coriander and serve with hot parathas.