I love butter chicken, but I don't love the calories! So this is my recipe for perfect restaurant style butter chicken (minus the calories).
A note - There's 3 things to Butter chicken - 2 marinades, and then the gravy itself.
Most butter chicken recipes I've read talk about marinating and leaving for a while. However, while educating myself about the process of marination, I've read that marinating anything beyond 20 mins does little to add additional flavor. That's why I don't bother marinating anything for hours. Usually it's just minutes, while I'm cooking the gravy, and because I'm a lazy cook who doesn't plan in advance :P
All spices/herbs are as per taste. Where needed, the recipe has specific measures.
Recipe:
The chicken -
Marinade 1
Defrost the chicken, take it out of the package and put in a bowl.
Add juice of 1 lemon, turmeric powder, and red chili powder (non-spicy, for color - It's called degi mirch in India. In US, it's paprika).
Optional - add a tsp of mustard oil if you have it on hand (to add more complexity to the flavors). Let it sit for 5-30 mins, however long you have. I left it for 5 mins.
Marinade 2
Add 2 giant tbsp of yogurt - hung curd/Greek yogurt (since it's thick!! You want as little water as possible), 1 tbsp of dry roasted kasuri methi (crushed between your palms), ginger, garlic paste. Let it sit for as long as u have in refrigerator. I let it sit for 10 mins on the kitchen counter while I made the gravy (like I said, I'm a super lazy cook!).
Now all you have to do is roast it.
Lay it on a foil lined baking tray & use the broiler setting in the oven in US; highest setting possible in ovens in India. For those who don't have access to an oven, you could cook it in a pan on high flame (sear it, so that it seals and has a nice brown layer outside - no need to cook through & through).
We want a char/brown layer on it (called the Maillard reaction - read on this for more insights into flavorful cooking). Take it out even if it's not cooked fully. So long as you have that char (oven cooked) like in tandoori chicken or the browning of the meat on the outside (pan seared), it's ready to be tossed into the gravy.
Gravy -
1tbsp Butter/oil, add 2/3 cardamom, a bit of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg, more ginger, garlic & lots of tomato purée (1 large can for a lb chicken)
Keep stirring & cooking till its dry (really really dry) until there's absolutely no liquid left (since this is the 'lean' version of butter chicken, we will be adding milk instead of cream and that will be the liquid base).
Add turmeric, more paprika/degi Mirch, salt. Add the roasted chicken and cook for 3-5 mins or until chicken is done. Switch off, add 2 heaping tbsp of dry roasted kasuri methi (crushed between your palms). Add whole milk until you get the perfect sweet/tangy flavor and color of butter chicken (I had to add about 200ml, and could have added more).
Add a tiny bit of butter if you haven't already added it before. Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish. Serve with naan/rice.
A note - There's 3 things to Butter chicken - 2 marinades, and then the gravy itself.
Most butter chicken recipes I've read talk about marinating and leaving for a while. However, while educating myself about the process of marination, I've read that marinating anything beyond 20 mins does little to add additional flavor. That's why I don't bother marinating anything for hours. Usually it's just minutes, while I'm cooking the gravy, and because I'm a lazy cook who doesn't plan in advance :P
All spices/herbs are as per taste. Where needed, the recipe has specific measures.
Recipe:
The chicken -
Marinade 1
Defrost the chicken, take it out of the package and put in a bowl.
Add juice of 1 lemon, turmeric powder, and red chili powder (non-spicy, for color - It's called degi mirch in India. In US, it's paprika).
Optional - add a tsp of mustard oil if you have it on hand (to add more complexity to the flavors). Let it sit for 5-30 mins, however long you have. I left it for 5 mins.
Marinade 2
Add 2 giant tbsp of yogurt - hung curd/Greek yogurt (since it's thick!! You want as little water as possible), 1 tbsp of dry roasted kasuri methi (crushed between your palms), ginger, garlic paste. Let it sit for as long as u have in refrigerator. I let it sit for 10 mins on the kitchen counter while I made the gravy (like I said, I'm a super lazy cook!).
Now all you have to do is roast it.
Lay it on a foil lined baking tray & use the broiler setting in the oven in US; highest setting possible in ovens in India. For those who don't have access to an oven, you could cook it in a pan on high flame (sear it, so that it seals and has a nice brown layer outside - no need to cook through & through).
We want a char/brown layer on it (called the Maillard reaction - read on this for more insights into flavorful cooking). Take it out even if it's not cooked fully. So long as you have that char (oven cooked) like in tandoori chicken or the browning of the meat on the outside (pan seared), it's ready to be tossed into the gravy.
Gravy -
1tbsp Butter/oil, add 2/3 cardamom, a bit of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg, more ginger, garlic & lots of tomato purée (1 large can for a lb chicken)
Keep stirring & cooking till its dry (really really dry) until there's absolutely no liquid left (since this is the 'lean' version of butter chicken, we will be adding milk instead of cream and that will be the liquid base).
Add turmeric, more paprika/degi Mirch, salt. Add the roasted chicken and cook for 3-5 mins or until chicken is done. Switch off, add 2 heaping tbsp of dry roasted kasuri methi (crushed between your palms). Add whole milk until you get the perfect sweet/tangy flavor and color of butter chicken (I had to add about 200ml, and could have added more).
Add a tiny bit of butter if you haven't already added it before. Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish. Serve with naan/rice.
No comments:
Post a Comment