Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)

Makhan in Hindi means creamed or buttered up.  So you can imagine where this is going…tender chicken pieces cooked through in aromatic herbs, tomatoes and spices with butter & cream to sooth out everything in the end!  Explosion of flavors extraordinaire!

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken fryer (without the giblets/liver and whatever else stuffed inside the chicken).  You can also use boneless chicken or chicken breast.  I find that the whole fryer with bones gives the dish more flavor, however bones can be messy but yummy!
• 1 1/4 cup tomato puree
• 2 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil.  You can use other vegetable oils but I like these two
• 1 large onion
• 7 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of minced ginger
• 1 green chilly.  You can add more or leave this out depending on your taste
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon tumeric
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1 tablespoon salt or add salt to your taste.  Note that you can always add more salt to your taste later…so add less salt in the beginning if you are unsure of how much salt you prefer
• 1 1/4 cup half and half.  For rich & uncompromising flavor use regular half and half or still yet satisfying you can use lowfat half and half. But please DO NOT use fat-free half and half as it would seriously damage the integrity of Chicken Makhani’s potential taste!
• 2 tablespoons full of chopped cilantros
• Optional *2 tablespoons of cashew paste (grind cashews with drops of water)*
• Optional *2 tablespoons of sliced cashews for garnish*

Dry Spice Ingredients

• 2 twists of ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds
• 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
• 5 cardamom pods
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 sticks of cinnamon

Method

• Skin the chicken and chop to desired curry sizes
• Pour lemon on chopped chicken and set aside
• Dice onions finely
• On medium high setting, heat oil and add onions and saute till brown (reduce heat if onions start burning too quickly). The onions will set the stage for smooth sauce and so the sauteed result  must be nice and brown
• Add all the dry ingredients and cover the pot.  Let the aromas run wild in the cooking pot for a minute.  Please be sure not to burn the spices! Reduce heat if you have to…stove heats do vary, so stay close to the pot! 🙂
• Grind the garlic cloves, green chilly and ginger
• Add the garlic, chilly and ginger paste to the pot and stir.  Cook covered for 1/2 a minute
• Add garam masala and tumeric to the pot. Stir, cover and let it cook for another minute
• Add the lemon marinated chopped chicken
• Add salt and stir thoroughly ensuring that all the spices and masala are evenly coated over chicken pieces. Cover and cook for 5 mins
• If you had put the heat lower to stop the spices/onions from burning, then put the heat back up to Medium High at this point
• After 5 mins add the tomato puree  and cashew paste (if you opted to use cashew paste) to chicken. Stir, cover and cook for another 5 mins
• After 5 mins add warm water and cook covered for 20 mins
• Chicken should be cooked tenderly by now.  Check for doneness and incase the meat is not cooked, then cook further till its fully done.  However do not overcook as this would cause the chicken to be dry and stringy
• Add half and half and stir thoroughly.  Lower the heat to Medium, cover the pot and leave on for another minute
• Remove from heat
• Add butter and chopped cilantro and stir
• After stirring in the cilantro and butter, transfer to serving dish and at that point garnish with sliced cashews (if you opted to used sliced cashews).  Do not stir the slice cashews

Enjoy this delicious meal over rice, roti, naan or warm pita bread!  Bon Appetit!