Yes I am bragging, this butter chicken tastes better than the restaurant ones…
Butter chicken is one of the Indian dishes that need no introduction as even the non Indians are familiar with this. I don’t think there would be any Indian restaurant without butter chicken being served.
Butter chicken is a North Indian dish and it originated from Punjab. So if you dine at an authentic South Indian restaurant the chances are they might not have this on their menu. While in India, I used to order this every time I dine out. But now I make this quite often in my kitchen. I’ve tried butter chicken at several Indian restaurants around the world. Last year on my way back from India, we had a transit at Frankfurt airport. I was literally starving and was extremely excited to see butter chicken on the menu at a restaurant in the airport. I didn’t think much and walked straight into the restaurant and enjoyed the lunch with butter chicken and basmati rice.
Lately, I had tried a few variations of butter chicken. Butter chicken pizza and butter chicken french fries. I absolutely loved the pizza, I’ll be soon trying that and will share the recipe.
I’ve to admit after trying this recipe, none of the restaurant style butter chicken could possibly impress my taste buds. In this, both the fried chicken and the sauce are flavorful, when they are combined the butter chicken got unbelievably scrumptious. And the good thing is you could adjust the amount of butter and cream accordingly. I’ve even tried this without adding the cream and it still tasted delicious. So even health watchers can try this without compromising on taste.
So get ready to butter up someone with this butter chicken!!!
Butter Chicken
Ingredients:
For marinating chicken:
- Chicken, boneless breast or thighs- 1 lb
- Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Chili powder- 1 tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
- Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
- Salt- to taste
For frying
- Oil- enough to shallow fry chicken
For making puree:
- Oil, used for frying chicken- 2 tbsp
- Onion, chopped- 2
- Tomatoes, chopped- 3
- Water- 1 cup
- Salt- a few pinches
For making sauce:
- Butter- 2 tbsp
- Green chili, chopped- 1
- Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Garam masala- 1 tsp
- Tomato ketchup- 3 tbsp (must add)
- Half and half cream- 1/4 cup
- Cilantro, chopped- 2 handful
Instruction
- Marinate the chicken with the above mentioned ingredients ‘for marinating chicken’ for 15 minutes.
- Shallow fry the chicken in oil till it turns golden in color, keep aside on a paper towel.
- Place a large non-stick pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil used for frying chicken.
- Add onions, green chili to the oil and salt, saute till onions turns tender.
- Add tomatoes and cook till it gets mashed up.
- Remove the pan from the heat, let cool down a bit.
- Puree the onion-mixture along with 1 cup water in a blender to a smooth paste.
- In the same pan, melt the butter.
- Pour the onion-tomato puree to the butter, saute for a couple of minutes.
- Be careful as the puree will splatter, keep the heat to low medium.
- Add cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala to it, cook for a minute.
- If the gravy is too thick, add water to thin down the sauce.
- Add tomato ketchup and combine well.
- Add the fried chicken to the sauce.
- Now, add the cream and combine well, cook for 2 minutes.
- This dish should have a thick constituency.
- Have a taste and add salt if needed.
- Garnish with cilantro and remove the pan from the heat.
- Serve with basmati rice or naan.
- To make this healthy, skip adding cream, it tastes delicious even without the cream.
- Don’t skip adding tomato ketchup as this enhances the flavor a lot and deepens the color as well.
- In restaurants, they add red food color that’s the reason why butter chicken has deep red color, I didn’t add the color.
- You could adjust the spice level accordingly, this is usually a mildly spicy dish.
- Chicken, boneless breast or thighs- 1 lb
- Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Chili powder- 1 tsp
- Coriander powder- 1½ tsp
- Cumin powder- ½ tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Oil- enough to shallow fry chicken
- Oil, used for frying chicken- 2 tbsp
- Onion, chopped- 2
- Tomatoes, chopped- 3
- Water- 1 cup
- Salt- a few pinches
- Butter- 2 tbsp
- Green chili, chopped- 1
- Cumin powder- ½ tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Garam masala- 1 tsp
- Tomato ketchup- 3 tbsp (must add)
- Half and half cream -1/4 cup
- Cilantro, chopped- 2 handfuls
- Marinate the chicken with the above mentioned ingredients 'for marinating chicken' for 15 minutes.
- Shallow fry the chicken in oil till it turns golden in color, keep aside on a paper towel.
- Place a large non-stick pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil used for frying chicken.
- Add onions, green chili to the oil and salt, saute till onions turns tender.
- Add tomatoes and cook till it gets mashed up.
- Remove the pan from the heat, let cool down a bit.
- Puree the onion-mixture along with 1 cup water in a blender to a smooth paste.
- In the same pan, melt the butter.
- Pour the onion-tomato puree to the butter, saute for a couple of minutes.
- Be careful as the puree will splatter, keep the heat to low medium.
- Add cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala to it, cook for a minute.
- If the gravy is too thick, add water to thin down the sauce.
- Add tomato ketchup and combine well.
- Add the fried chicken to the sauce.
- Now, add the cream and combine well, cook for 2 minutes.
- This dish should have a thick constituency.
- Have a taste and add salt if needed.
- Garnish with cilantro and remove the pan from the heat.
- Serve with basmati rice or naan.
Don't skip adding tomato ketchup as this enhances the flavor a lot and deepens the color as well.
In restaurants, they add red food color that's the reason why butter chicken has deep red color, I didn't add the color.
You could adjust the spice level accordingly, this is usually a mildly spicy dish.
