Authentic Butter Chicken - At its best

About Butter Chicken 

Butter Chicken is one of the world famous dish of mughal cuisineserved in legendary restaurants  in Old Delhi. It is know for its richness, royalness, aroma and taste. Also know and murg makhani served with naan. Its a mouth watering dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg chicken skin removed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to suit your taste – Kashmiri Lal Mirch)
• 6 cloves
• 8-10 peppercorns
• 2 x 1" stick of cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 8-10 almonds (Optional)
• Seeds from 3-4 pods of cardamom
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 2 tbsp hung curd
• 2 cups Tomoto Puree
• 1 cup fresh cream (Rich create preffered)
• Tandoori Chicken Masal (or garam masala)
• 2 tsps garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 tsps coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves & ginger juliens to garnish

PREPARATION

• Mix the chicken, lime juice, salt and red chilli powder, ginger paste (half), garlic paste (half), yogurt, tandoori chicken masala in a large, non-metallic bowl. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
• Light up the barbeque grill or oven (on high heat). Grease the grill of barbeque and place chicken pieces on to the grill. Grill the chicken till its golden brown from both sides also grease chicken    pieces periodically with butter.
• Keep the chicken pieces aside and prepare the gravy.
• Heat the oil in a deep pan on medium heat. When hot, add ginger and garlic paste. Fry for a minute. Then add raw spices cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaves cloves etc. Fry for another minute.
• Now add tomato puree to this mixture and keep it cooking till oil separates out. Then add turmeric powder, salt to taste and red chilli powder. Cook for another 10 minutes on low flame and let the mix get dark red in color.
• Now is the time to add fresh cream to the gravy. Make sure that you first turn off the flame then add fresh cream gently so it will not turn to oil. Mix the cream evenly making the gravy color bit bright red.
• Add the chicken pieces and cover them with gravy and put the lid back.
• Now cook the dish again for about 5 mins on low flame.
• Melt the butter in another small pan and then pour it over the chicken.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and cream and serve with Naan or Roomali Roti.

ADD ON

For an authentic and traditional cooked-over-the-coals flavour (If oven is used to grill the chicken): When the Butter Chicken is cooked, make a small bowl shape with aluminum foil and place it on top of the curry ('floating' on it). Heat a briquette of charcoal on an open flame till red hot and gently put the charcoal in to the aluminum foil bowl. Cover the dish immediately. Remove the cover just before serving, discard the foil bowl and charcoal and serve. The curry will be infused with a smokey flavor.