Recipe – Butter chicken for the strong hearted

By Monish Gujral

MD – MotiMahal Delux Tandoori Trail® Restaurants

monishgujral@motimahal.in

The recipe for Butter chicken is actually a dual recipe – one of the tandoori chicken and the other for the makhani gravy or the butter gravy – the mother of all north Indian –mughlai sauces.This was invented in motimahal by the founder Kundan lal Gujral .As goes the old saying necessity is the mother of all inventions – it was  mere need to sell the chicken tikka , which went  a little dry hanging by the side of hot tandoors that lead to the invention of this makhani gravy , so that the chicken  could be sauted in this sauce to over come the poor  tikka`s dry spell .

As goes the old  riddle “ whether the egg came first or the chicken “ it is hard to tell but in  the  case of butter chicken and tandoori chicken ,  it is the tandoori chicken which hatched before the butter chicken .

So lets see how to cook the  tandoori chicken first and transform it into the Butter chicken later.

Recipe for the tandoori chicken-(From my book Motimahal`s tandoori trail)

Ingredients:

Moti Mahal's Tandoori Trail

• Chicken, washed and pat dried- 600-700—gms
• For the first marinade-
• Lemon- juice- 1 ½ tbsp
• Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

For the second marinade

• Yoghurt- ½ cup
• Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
• Ginger paste- 1 tbsp
• Rock salt(kala namak)- ½ tsp
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Red colour (optional)  a few drops
• Dry fenugreek (kasoori methis)powder- ½ tsp
• Onions cut into rings- 2
• Lemon wedges-1

Method:

• Make two deep incisions each on breast and the drum sticks.
• For the first marinade- mix all the ingredients in a bowl and rub all over the chicken and keep aside for 1 hr.
• For the second marinade – mix all the ingredients in a bowl and rub on the chicken pieces and keep for at least 3 hours.
• Preheat the oven at 180 deg. Place the chicken on the grill rack , place the tray underneath to collect all the drippings. Grill for 8-10 minutes .
• Brush with oil , turn upside down and  grill for 3-4 minutes till tender.
• Remove from the grill and keep aside.

The makhani sauce Alias Butter Gravy

Ingredients:

• Tandoori chicken 1
• Ripe red tomatoes- 800 gms
• Oil- 2 tbsp
• Onions chopped-1
• Red Chili powder- 1 tbsp
• Ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Cashew paste- 2 Tbsp
• Bayleaf-1
• Garam masala- 1 tbsp
• Zeera powder- 1 tsp
• Butter 50 gm
• Double fresh cream 100 gm
• Dry fenugreek powder(kasoori methi)-1 tsp
• Green chili deseeded-2
• Fresh green coriander chopped- 1tbsp
• Fresh cream for garnish 1 Tbsp

Method:

• Take a pan , put oil and heat it over fire.
• Put onion and sauté for few seconds.
• Put chopped tomatoes , bayleaf and salt  in the pan and  let it simmer , stirring occasionally till the oil sepearates from the sides.
• Strain the sauce.
• Pour in a pan  and heat over fire.
• Add all the spices.
• Add in the Tandoori Chicken  , stir   for a 3-4 minutes.
• Add butter and stir till it melts in cream and remove quickly.
• Garnish with green chilies and coriander with a drip of cream.

2 Responses to “Recipe – Butter chicken for the strong hearted”

1. Priyanka says:

   November 13, 2010 at 6:43 am

   delicious
2. jasbir says:

   February 27, 2011 at 5:33 pm

   Hi chef bit confused about ur makhni sauce do we puree the sauce and strain it or just strain it with channi.thanks