Butter Chicken
30 minutes min
30 minutes min
5 Per
While we were dating, my husband Faeez knew I love to cook and would drop subtle hints about what his favourite foods were by asking if I knew how to cook certain dishes. This butter chicken was one of the first few dishes I cooked for him just after our engagement. Needless to say, whenever he’s craving for butter chicken, he would come up to me and say, “Remember the time you made me butter chicken before we got married?”
Cut chicken thighs into 2.5-cm pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add about a tablespoonful of salt and mix well using your hands. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, toast coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the toasted spices into a fine powder. (Alternatively, use pre-ground cumin and coriander, but use a tad more for each.)
Blend ginger, garlic and green chillies together to form a fine paste. Set aside 2 tablespoonfuls for the gravy. Add the remaining paste to the chicken, along with the ground spices, Greek yoghurt, chilli powder and saffron. Mix well and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC on the grill function. Arrange chicken pieces on a baking tray and grill for 20–30 minutes until cooked. The chicken should be charred a little to mimic a barbecue grill.
To make the gravy, heat oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, then cook for about a minute until fragrant. Add onion and reserved ginger-garlic-chilli paste, cooking for another 3 minutes before adding chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, chilli powder, ground coriander and heavy cream. Let simmer for about 3 minutes over low heat.
Turn off the heat and fish out the cinnamon stick. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture into a smooth gravy. Stir in fenugreek leaves, honey and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.
To serve, place grilled chicken in a bowl and pour gravy over it. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. This is best served with naan or plain basmati rice.
2 boneless chicken thighs
Salt as needed
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
5-cm knob ginger, peeled
10 cloves garlic, peeled
3 green chillies
120 ml (1/2 cup) Greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
A pinch of saffron
Butter Chicken Gravy
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 stick cinnamon
4 green cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
4 Tbsp canned chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 Tbsp ground coriander
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream
1 tsp fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
1 tsp honey
Juice of half a lemon
Salt to taste
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
