Dano's Delhi Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken)

[Dano]

Hello again!

This recipe will be in 2 parts - first one for frying the tandoor chicken you made from my previous post and the second part will be how you make the gravy.

Tandoor Chicken

3 Tbs. peanut or vegetable oil
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced(fine hand grater)
Your 2 chicken breasts marinading in my Tandoor Chicken recipe for 48 hours from the other post
1.5 tablespoons fenugreek leaves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
75 ml/2.5 fl oz cream(18%)
1.5 tablespoon ghee(clarified butter) - do not substitute with regular butter!
1.5 tablespoons honey

For the tomato gravy

1/2 kg or 1 1/8 lb whole roma vine tomatoes(usually a bunch of 5) - chopped well
2 small or one large red onions, peeled and fine chopped
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced (hand grated)
1.5 inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and hand grated
1-2 fresh green chillies - de-seeded and fine chopped depending on your heat tolerance
3 green cardamom pods, seeds only - ground up in mortar/pestel
2 tsp. gr. coriander poweder
2 tsp. gr. cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mace or a few blades of mace
4 cloves ground up in mortar/pestel or use 3/4 tsp. gr. cloves

How to:

Put all the ingredients for the tomato gravy in a wok or deep pan with a little water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes
Cool then puree in a food processor or blender to make a smooth red gravy
Heat 2 Tbs. oil and fry the minced garlic until brown in the wok/pan
Add the raw tandoor chicken pieces and stir-fry until they are golden - usually about 8 mins
Pour in the tomato gravy and simmer until the chicken is almost cooked - this takes about 20 mins
Hand crush and stir in the fenugreek leaves and season with salt and pepper - let simmer another 10 mins
Just before serving, stir in the cream, the ghee and the honey, mix well

*If you find that the taste isn't strong enough you can play around with the spice mixture of the tomato gravy - some like more cinnamon, others more cardomom.  The mace is extremely important, some substitute nutmeg but you will not get the orange red colour that is traditional butter chicken.  It is also important that you use fresh garlic/ginger.  The jar of minced stuff does not have the potency that this recipe requires.  Something I've learned the hard way.  :)

Enjoy!

[Saber 4]

Copied and saved thanks so much, I'll post when I get to make it.

[Dano]

Sounds good! Give yourself a few hours because of the amount of prep and simmering. First time I made this we ate a later dinner because I misjudged the prep time and cooling of the gravy. You can also make the gravy a day in advance. It's ok if it sits in the fridge as its just pureed veggies and spice.   :)