Murg Makhani (Butter Chicken)

Its friday night and it is the most relaxing time of the week for me. I guess everybody enjoys the friday night in their own way. For me its a day where next day is holiday and no waking up early for HB. No cooking early morning meals. Hence, I try to make something special on fridays, which we normally won't have in mid week menu. HB cooks delicious chicken dishes. I get really impressed as to how tasty the dishes turn out.

    Today he decided to make Murg Makhani or we also commonly know as butter chicken. Its fully loaded with butter and cream. Its not a healthy option for diet conscious or calorie conscious people. But for me taste comes first and this murg makhani tasted mindblowing.

    I am sharing here the recipe of murg makhani by HB.

Chicken (boneless) - 350gm

Tomato -2 medium sized roughly chopped

 Butter - Loads of it. But seriously as much you want. We added about 75 gm

 Ginger  -  1 inch

 Garlic- 3 fat cloves

 Kasoori methi - dry roast it and grind it into fine powder. I just crushed it with my fingers after dry roasting.

Green Chilli - 2

 Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

 Black pepper whole - 6 (approx)

 Double Cream - 3 tbsp (approx)

 Cashew Nut paste - 2 tbsp

 Turmeric powder

 Shahi garam masala - 1 tsp

 Kashmiri Red Chilli powder - 1tsp

 Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

 Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

 Chicken Tandoori Masala - 1tsp

 Yoghurt - 2 tbsp

 Oil

 Salt and sugar as per taste

This delicious chicken preparation  is a 4 step recipe.

• Marination

• Making the masala for the gravy

• Frying the marinated Chicken

• The final assembling and curry prepration.

So, firstly marinate the boneless diced pieces with  half of the ginger garlic paste and yoghurt. A pinch of turmeric, salt, tandoori masala and kashmiri red chilli powder. Marinate the chicken for approx 15min.

 In the mean time we can utilize the time by making the masala for the gravy. Heat half of the butter in a pan and temper it with cumin seeds. After this add the ginger, garlic, chilli to the oil. Add tomatoes to the oil and fry it till it becomes soft and mushy. Remember to keep the heat of the hob to medium and this will take around 3 min. Then add the cashew paste again fry it for few seconds.

Add the powder masala like cumin and coriander powde to the pan,also add some salt.If you think that the masala is sticking and burning, just sprinkle some water to the paste. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down before you grind it to make a creamy paste.

    Now, its time to take the marinated chicken pieces and fry them in oil. Oil should be on medium- high heat . The chicken should be fried on both sides for approx 6-7 min. Fry the chicken in batches and do not over crowd it in the pan. The chicken should get a brown fried look, but please do not burn it.

Let met tell you a secret, I love to eat this fried marinated chicken and often use it to make the famous street food of kolkata "egg chicken roll".

Now the finally assembling the curry to make a calorie filled yummylicious murg makhani.

Add the butter to the pan. Wait till it melts. Add the masala paste that we made after grinding it.

Add the fresh cream and the shahi garam masala powder to the gravy. Add the powdered kasoori methi to the gravy.

Cook covered for a couple of minutes. Turn of the heat and serve. Garnish it with butter and fresh cream. Served it with paratha, but you can also serve it with naan, kulcha also. Yummy. Because of this I love HB a lot.  😍