Butter Chicken - Murgh Makhani

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jonnyjonny_uk

Senior Cook
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
445
Location
Moscow, Russia.
As promised in another thread here is the recipe for Butter Chicken - Murgh Makhani. I will update this thread with photos once I've finished cooking it today.

Ingredients

• 500 g Chicken thighs (boneless)
• 50 g Ginger & garlic paste
• ½ tsp Salt
• 65 ml Yoghurt
• ½ tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• ½ tbsp Vegetable oil
• ½ tsp Grams masala powder

• For the sauce
• 40 ml Vegetable oil
• 15 g Ginger
• 6 Green chillies
• 4 Cinnamon sticks
• 5 Cardamom pods
• 5 Cloves
• 2 Bay leaf
• 750 g Tomatoes
• ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 60 ml Single cream
• 1 tbsp Honey
• ½ tbsp Tomato paste
• 2 tsp Kasoori methi
• 50 g Butter
• 75 g Cashew nuts

Take the boneless chicken thighs and wash them in cold water. Put them into a colander and pat dry with a kitchen cloth.

Add the 50g of garlic and ginger paste to the bowl, along with half a teaspoon of salt.

Using your hands to mix everything together in the colander, to make sure the chicken gets a really even coating of the mix.

Put 65ml of natural yoghurt into a new bowl. Add half a tablespoon of oil and half a tablespoon of chilli powder. Whisk these ingredients together.

Cover the chicken with the whisked mixture. Once again use your hands to make sure that the chicken is thoroughly coated in the mixture. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and keep mixing.

Cover the chicken in cling film and put it in a refrigerator. Leave the chicken to marinate for no less than 4 hours.

After 4 hours, put the pieces of chicken on some greaseproof paper, and place under the grill for 10 to 15 minutes. There is no need to turn them.

Remove the chicken from the grill and leave to cool for a few minutes. Then cut it into bite-sized pieces. Cover with cling film or plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator

Start by peeling and finely chopping 15g of ginger. Then heat 40ml of vegetable oil in a large saucepan, on a medium to high heat.

When the oil is hot, add the four sticks of cinnamon to the pan.
Then, add the 5 cardamom pods. 5 cloves and a few bay leaves
stir for a couple of minutes, then add the chopped ginger, cook for a further minute and add the 6 green chillies.

Put the 750 g of fresh, whole tomatoes into the pan and stir. Turn the hob down to a medium heat and carry on stirring for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat down low and leave to sit for about a minute. Then add 100ml of water, put the lid on, and leave to simmer for about 25 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked to a purée.

Take the pan off the heat. Remove any whole spices.

Now you need to crush the tomato mixture into a paste like consistency. You could use a wooden spoon, but a blender is preferable. Blend until smooth.

Use a sieve to strain the puréed mixture into the saucepan to get rid of any lumps. Add a little water to get all the mixture out. Put the pan on a high heat to bring it back to the boil.

In the meantime, use the blender to grind about two thirds of the cashew nuts, that's 50g, into powder. Then add a tiny amount of water and blend into a paste.

Once the sauce is hot and bubbling, add one tablespoon of tomato paste
Then the ground cashew nuts. Add a little water to the blender to get all the paste out. Add half a teaspoon of chilli powder and a tablespoon of honey
and stir for about 3 minutes. Then add 50g of butter and stir until it melts. Next, a generous sprinkling of salt. Leave the sauce for about 5 minutes and then stir in one teaspoon of Kasoori methi, which are the ground dried fenugreek leaves. Leave the sauce gently bubbling over a medium heat.

In another frying pan melt a little butter. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the remaining third, or 25 g, of the cashew nuts and add them to the pan. Then, throw in the seasoned chicken tikka that you grilled earlier.

Fry for about 3 minutes on a high heat.
Cover the chicken with the sauce. Then add 60 ml of single cream.

Then stir the chicken and sauce together for about 3 minutes. It should be simmering while you do this.

Decorate with a little drizzle of cream and serve with naan bread or rice

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll update once it's been tried and tested as I'm actually in the process of cooking it now :)
 
img_839060_0_b5a07637f4b230a66477030defc9afd4.jpg


img_839060_1_8db076abeb8ef9152552a98806af172f.jpg


Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of any coriander out here in Moscow as that would of made the pictures look better with a little garnish in the middle.

Just finished eating this and it was absolutely gorgeous :) I've tried many different Indian recipes and bought so many different cook-in sauces to try and re-create authentic restaurant curries but this one wins hands down. It actually tasted better than my local restaurant but it's not the same without popadoms and chutneys and naan bread etc but I guess they could be next on my list.

The only things I did wrong were to add too much garlic when marinating the chicken and not making a smooth enough paste of the garlic & ginger. The problem was when blending it goes into a clump and even after adding a little water it still wouldn't blend together well so any tips on making a good garlic & ginger paste would be most welcome.

All in all I'm very satisfied with my first attempt at Butter chicken and I'm pleased to say there's some left over for tomorrow :)

Please let me know if you try this recipe as I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks
 
The only things I did wrong were to add too much garlic when marinating the chicken and not making a smooth enough paste of the garlic & ginger. The problem was when blending it goes into a clump and even after adding a little water it still wouldn't blend together well so any tips on making a good garlic & ginger paste would be most welcome.

Thanks

First the pics look great! With some fresh nann I could help you get rid of it!

To get smother garlic and ginger don't grind it smash it like in a mortal and pestal.
 
Can you recommend a good butter naan recipe please?



Thanks :)

Here the Butter Naan recipe for you

Butter Nun

Ingredients:
500 gm white flour
100 gm butter
50 gm ghee (clarified butter)
50 gm east
A pinch of baking soda
1/2 litre milk cream
4-5 tablespoon yogurt (plain curd)
milk for kneading
1 teaspoon kalonji (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Boil the milk and keep aside.
Let it cool.
Kneed a tight dough with white flour, east, baking soda, yogurt, sugar, salt, kalonji, milk cream and milk.
Keep the dough for half an hour wrapped with a wet muslin cloth.
After an hour again knead the dough for 1 min.
When the dough becomes fermented, divided the in 5-6 parts.
Roll each piece into 8 inch round naans.
Brush the naan with a little ghee.
Bake the nans in a tawa until it becomes puffed.
Rub the butter on the surface.
Enjoy the Butter Nun with any Chicken or Mutton recipe.

I hope you will enjoy and let me know:chef:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom