Butter chicken
Murgh makhani was born in Delhi in the fifties as a way to use up leftover tandoori chicken: roast chicken in a mild sauce of tomato, butter and cream.
Ingredients
- 800 g boneless chicken thighs
- 150 g yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon of grated ginger and garlic
- 2 teaspoons of garam masala, 1 of paprika (or Kashmiri chilli) and 1 of cumin
- 50 g butter
- 400 g crushed tomatoes
- 150 ml cream
- 1 tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
- 1 teaspoon of sugar, and salt
How to make it at home
- Marinate the chicken with the yoghurt, half the ginger and garlic, half the spices and salt for at least 2 hours.
- Roast it in the oven at 240 °C or on a griddle until charred at the edges.
- Melt the butter, fry the rest of the ginger and garlic and the spices, add the tomato and cook for 15 minutes. Blend.
- Add the cream, sugar, crumbled fenugreek and chicken, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Serve with a knob of butter on top, basmati rice and naan.
The trick: Dried fenugreek is the secret flavour: you’ll find it in Indian shops.