Wednesday, August 9, 2017

How to make the famous butter chicken at home

Butter chicken is a buttery chicken gravy which delivers a brilliant mix of flavors of tomatoes and dairy fats. It is best served with steaming hot ghee rice (my personal choice).
The name butter chicken does not only imply the large amount of butter added to it, but also the buttery smoothness of the gravy.

Butter chicken's origin is in Punjabi cuisine. In 1920s, after a man made the dish tandoori chicken famous in a small eatery he ran at Gora Bazaar in Peshawar, he faced a problem. There were left over chicken and he started to wonder what he could do with it. An imaginary light bulb went on as the idea to serve the leftover chicken in a smooth curry came to him. Not long after, he came up with the famous butter chicken.


The Indian Punjabi’s name was Kundan Lal Gujral. He was the founder of Moti Mahal Delux restaurant in Delhi, India (about-us, n.d.).


Ingredients

For the chicken

  • boneless chicken breasts                                                400 g
  • ginger garlic paste                                                          3 tbsp
  • red chilli powder                                                            3 tbsp
  • salt to taste
  • oil to fry(pan)

For the gravy

  • roughly cut tomatoes                                                      500 g
  • roughly cut onions                                                          100 g
  • garlic paste                                                                     1 tbsp
  • Cashew nuts                                                                     50 g
  • garam masala                                                                   2 tsp
  • sugar                                                                                4 tsp
  • chilli  powder                                                                  2 tbsp
  • butter                                                                               5 tbsp
  • cream                                                                              3 tbsp
  • salt to taste

Method

Marinate the chicken in a mixture of garlic and ginger past, red chili powder and salt and keep it for 20 minutes.
Heat some oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces, once done transfer it into another container.
In the same pan add onion, oil, spoonful of butter and once the onions are cooked add cashew nuts and tomatoes.
Add some water and garlic paste, salt, sugar, garam masala powder and chili powder. Evenly mix it and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes 
Churn the mixture into fine puree.
Strain it back into the same pan.
Add butter, cream, and chicken and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Garnish it with cream 


bon appétit!!



References