Butter Chicken

Yesterday, while going through my cooking options, struck upon the idea of cooking butter chicken. Butter chicken originates from the Indian state of Punjab. It is also called Murg Makhani in hindi. The butter chicken came out very tasty and is easy to cook, so thought of sharing it with you.

Ingredients:

1. 600 gms chicken breasts cut into small pieces
2. 2 tablespoon butter
3. 2 pieces cinnamon about 1 inch each.
4. 4 green cardamoms
5. 3 cloves
6. 8 to 10 peppercorns
7. 2 parts of 1 star anise
8. 1 tsp. kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, available in most of the Indian stores)
9. 100 gms sliced or crushed almonds
10. 1/2 can crushed tomatoes
11. 2 cm ginger grated
12. 4 cloves of garlic grated
13. 2 medium onion cut into fine pieces
14. 1/2 cup yogurt
15. 1 tblsp. lemon juice
16. 1 teaspoon garam masala or chicken masala
17. 1 teaspoon chilli powder
18. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
19. some sprigs of coriander leaves for garnish
20. salt as per requirement

Method:

• Marinate the chicken pieces with lemon juice, turmeric powder, chillipowder, kasuri methi and salt for 45 minutes or more.
• Roast the whole spices of peppercorns, star anise, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon.
• Grind these spices into powder and then add the almonds and chicken masala and grind it further. Make this into a fine paste adding water and keep it aside.
• In a heavy bottomed pan, add the butter and then the onions, ginger and garlic and saute these for sometime until it is lightly brown and cooked. Add the chicken pieces to it and lightly fry it. (You can also add a bit of yogurt to the marination and then roast the chicken in an oven for a better effect than pan frying it).
• When the chicken is done, add the crushed tomatoes and stir it for a further 2 minutes. Now add the almond and spice paste, mix and let it cook until the chicken it is done. (Please uncover it and mix it in between as the almond paste can stick to the bottom, if needed add a little water from time to time.)
• Lastly add the yogurt and adjust salt according to your taste. Cook it for 2 or 3 minutes only as the yogurt can give out water if cooked for longer time.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.