Butter chicken for the strong hearted
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.
Butter chicken
By Published: September 23, 2010
- Yield: 3-4 servings
- Prep: 20 mins
- Cook: 35 mins
- Ready In: 59 mins
First is the -recepie for the tandoori chicken (FROM MY BOOK MOTIMAHAL`S TANDOORI TRAIL). Then we make the makhni sauce alias butter gravy.
Ingredients
- 600-700 gm Chicken pat dried
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder For the first marinade
- 1 1/2 tbsp Lemon- juice For the first marinade
- Salt to taste For the first marinade
- 1/2 cup Yoghurt For the second marinade
- 1 tbsp Garlic paste For the second marinade
- 1 tbsp Ginger paste For the second marinade
- 1/2 tsp Rock salt(kala namak) For the second marinade
- 1 tsp Garam masala For the second marinade
- Red colour (optional) a few drops For the second marinade
- 1/2 tsp Dry fenugreek (kasoori methis)powder For the second marinade
- 2 Onions cut into rings For the second marinade
- 1 Lemon wedges For the second marinade
- 1 Tandoori chicken For the Makhni Sauce
- 800 gm Ripe red tomatoes For the Makhni Sauce
- 2 tbsp Oil For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 Onions chopped For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tbsp Red Chili powder For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste For the Makhni Sauce
- Salt to taste For the Makhni Sauce
- 2 tbsp Cashew paste For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tbsp Garam masala For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tsp Zeera powder For the Makhni Sauce
- 50 gm Butter For the Makhni Sauce
- 50 gm Double fresh cream For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tsp Dry fenugreek powder(kasoori methi) For the Makhni Sauce
- 2 Green chili deseeded For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tbsp Fresh green coriander chopped For the Makhni Sauce
- 1 tbsp Fresh cream for garnish For the Makhni Sauce
Instructions
- Tandoori Chicken Process-
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.
- For the Makhni Sauce-
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.
Priyanka
November 13, 2010 at 6:43 am
delicious
Monish Gujral
June 12, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Thanks, Priyanka
jasbir
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
Monish Gujral
June 12, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Hi..Jasbir,
You can use tomato puree if you dont want to strain.
If you are using chopped tomato then you can strain the sauce.
Elson Sequeira
June 12, 2013 at 12:33 pm
do we need to strain the sauce? there is a step missing i guess
Monish Gujral
June 12, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Elson, Yes you need to strain the sauce. Please read step no 8.
vikram
July 31, 2013 at 10:08 am
Hi chef … just two questions about this recipe … how much puree should one use if not using fresh tomatoes … and when do we add the cream ? thanks …
basel Maksousa
August 17, 2013 at 3:39 pm
I am going to try that ,I think it is going to be very tasty
I need recipe for mutton Korma and other mogul food BBQ
Monish Gujral
August 17, 2013 at 3:45 pm
You can join https://www.facebook.com/iluvindianfood ,our facebook page. It will keep you updated on new BBQ recipes.
Shabdita Singh
November 7, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Hi chef. This recipe seems pretty good and when backed by the legendary moti mahal name, it comes on my must try list. I have a question though. Can the same makhani sauce be used for pander butter masala? And a request for you to post some more vegetarian friendlt recipes too. Thanks!
Monish Gujral
November 8, 2013 at 4:14 am
Thanks Shabdita, and yeah you can use the sauce to make paneer butter masala. Stay in touch the next post will be vegetarian.
desinl
November 25, 2013 at 1:34 am
i tried this recipe from the “trail of butter chicken” but it didn’t result in the thick gravy as i expected. Is some step missing? how do you go from chopped tomatoes to a thick gravy?
Monish Gujral
November 25, 2013 at 6:50 am
Please chop and simmer and then strain.
raju datla
October 30, 2015 at 8:40 pm
sir this recipe is different from which you have shared in the book “on the butter trail” why is that ?
Arun
August 10, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Hi Monish, thank you for sharing this. I’m a big Moti Mahal butter chicken fan.
Just to know, instead of straining the tomato mix, can we just blitz it to a blend? Or would that alter the taste?
Monish Gujral
August 10, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Hi Arun, ya blending is also an option but be sure to pull the bay leaf out of the mix before blending. Enjoy cooking!
Arun
August 11, 2014 at 11:58 am
Ah ok, will definitely keep that in mind. And thank you for the really prompt reply.
Nabila abid
March 21, 2015 at 11:57 am
Hi chef
I want to buy your book (on the kebab trail) your other books I allready bought but this book I can not find on (Ebay) (amazons) and I checked other website.i live in USA .can you plz tell me how I can buy this book .
Thanks
Monish Gujral
March 22, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Hi Nabila,
You can buy it from amazon.com, I am sharing the link below. Hope it helps you.
http://www.amazon.com/Kebab-Trail-Moti-Mahal-Cookbook/dp/0143419382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427012263&sr=8-1&keywords=on+the+kebab+trail
Rajesh Bhargava
April 1, 2015 at 4:37 pm
It’s all in the garam masala. Could you elaborate the actual recipe of garam masala used at Moti Mahal. I think that little bit of difference always persists.
jitendra singh
April 22, 2015 at 10:54 pm
Hi
Sir moti mahal butter chicken no 1 every time
Nihar Desai
August 21, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Hello
I am an ardent fan of your recipes.i have both your books in my collection. I have tried Many recipes from your books but paneer kadai and dal makhani comes amazing.
Recently i tried to make butter chicken but i am not getting the red colour of the gravy. When i add jeera powder and garam masala,gravy turns brown. How to slve this problem without adding any food colour.
Many Thanks
Regard
Nihar
bipin singh
January 26, 2016 at 12:01 am
chef I want to know butter chic is boneless or with bone . what is actual..?
Monish Gujral
February 10, 2016 at 11:25 am
Hi Bipin,
The original butter chicken is with bone.