My first introduction to Indian food was via London. With its sizable East Asian community, London turns out to have many wonderful, inexpensive Indian restaurants. As a college student traveling to London on a tight budget, I discovered the joys of Indian food there and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Recently I’ve begun cook Indian, and Indian-inspired food, at home. First there were chutneys: cranberry chutney and apple and caramelized onion. Next I did curried cauliflower steaks and aloo paratha. And now I’m onto Indian butter chicken, known as murgh makhani.
I made this dish for May’s Secret Recipe Club post, from my assigned partner, Anna and her blog, Cheese with Noodles. If you aren’t familiar with how Secret Recipe Club works, we each get randomly assigned another blogger, whose site we check out and introduce to our own readers. Then we pick a recipe from that site to make, or to use as inspiration.
Cheese with Noodles is a wonderful, eclectic mix of recipes. I like Anna’s adventurous spirit. She is willing to try many different types of recipes, posting only those that she and her husband truly enjoyed. Her links back to original recipes and comments on how she has adapted them are helpful. I’ve bookmarked several that I’d like to try, including her own green tomato salsa, and her adaptations of pineapple zucchini bread and black and white turkey chili.
Anna lives in the interior of Alaska and doesn’t have any apparent connection to India or Indian food. No matter. We thoroughly enjoyed the Indian butter chicken and devoured even the small amount I had hoped to save for lunch the next day.
I served it with string beans and rice. Although I photographed the dish with naan, I made the dish during Passover, when we don’t eat bread. Next time I make it – and there will be a next time – I’ll definitely serve it with naan of maybe even aloo paratha.
Anna adapted an Indian butter chicken recipe that she found on AllRecipes. In turn, I adapted her version, adding more chicken and upping the garam masala, in addition to slightly revising the directions. The bottom line is that you make a sauce with onion, spices, and, of course, butter, then you cook chicken cubes, and finally you simmer the cooked chicken cubes in the sauce to meld the flavors together. One note – don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients. If you measure out and organize them (remember mise en place?), cooking the dish is easy.
Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unflavored oil (grapeseed canola or similar), divided
- 1 small onion and 1 shallot both chopped (total - 1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons garlic ginger paste made from 2-3 cloves of garlic and a knob of garlic mashed together in a small food processor or by hand
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1-2 pinches cayenne pepper ground hot red
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice about 1/2 a lemon
- 1 cup tomato sauce 8 ounces
- 1/3 cup ground cashews
- 1 cup half and half can substitute or 1/3 cup heavy cream + 2/3 cup nonfat milk
- 1/4 cup unflavored yogurt regular or Greek
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt kosher or sea salt
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs cut into bite size pieces
- 1+ cups chicken broth Optional - for thinning out the sauce, which tends to be thick.
Instructions
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Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add the chopped onion and shallot and cook under medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until the pieces start to become transparent.
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Add the butter, ginger garlic paste, bay leaf, garam masala, chili powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and lemon juice. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring to mix all the spices. Add the tomato sauce and cook, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes more.
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Stir in the ground cashews, dairy (half and half or cream/milk and yogurt), and salt. Simmer the sauce under a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Cool the sauce down slightly and blend, either in a blender or with an immersion blender in a tall glass or bowl. Set aside.
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Either clean the skillet or use another one. Add a tablespoon of oil (the second of three) and sauté half the chicken cubes on medium-high heat. Leave enough room around each cube so that they do not touch and turn them to brown on each side. Once those cubes are seared on all sides, remove them from the skillet to a plate, add the third tablespoon of oil, and sauté the rest of the chicken cubes the same way.
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Once all the chicken cubes are finished cooking, add the sauce back into the skillet and simmer the sauce on a low heat for 20 minutes. If you prefer the sauce thinner, add in small amounts of chicken broth until you get the consistency you want.
Recipe Notes
If you intend to prepare the chicken ahead of time, reheating it later, then simmer the sauce in the last step for only 10 minutes and keep additional chicken broth in reserve for thinning out the sauce upon reheating.
Anna says
Your pictures are so beautiful! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. We did, too, and now you’ve inspired me to make it again soon! When I posted the recipe, I made naan to go with it, I think I will do that again as well. You’re right, I have no real connection to anything Indian, other than a fascination with reading novels set in India and I’ve enjoyed the unfortunately infrequent meals of Indian food I’ve eaten.
I just made a big batch of black and white chili for my brother and his wife, who just had their first baby together, and for this month’s SRC, I made rhubarb bread, which is pretty similar to the pineapple zucchini bread.
Laura says
Anna, So glad you liked the post. I really enjoyed the butter chicken and figured that if an Alaskan can make it her own, why not me? Lovely to “meet” you too – loved wandering through your blog. Now you’ve got me thinking about rhubarb, which I think will be in season soon around here.
Sid says
You had me at Butter Chicken. My sister makes a wonderful one as well. I keep forgetting to ask her for the recipe, but maybe I won’t now. This looks great.
Laura says
Hi Sid. If you ever get your sister’s recipe, do let me know if there are differences. I love comparing the variations on an old favorite such as butter chicken.
Emily @ Life on Food says
Oh this looks delicious. I just had Indian food on Friday but now I want it all over again. Butter chicken is one of my favorites. Happy Reveal Day!
Laura says
Thanks for stopping by Emily. I had never realized how simple it is to combine the spices for such an aromatic sauce. It’s definitely going to be a regular at my house.
SallyBR says
Luscious! I love this type of recipe, spicy and delicious!
Hope you are having a great Reveal Day!
Laura says
Sally, It is aromatic. If you want to make it spicy, up the cayenne and chili powder. Many thanks for stopping by.
susan // the wimpy vegetarian says
What a wonderful name for a recipe – butter chicken. And the flavors look fantastic. I’ve started enjoying Indian food, and my husband loves it. I’ll have to put this on my must-make list!
Laura says
Susan, Considering how little butter is in the dish, I feel as though the name is rather a misnomer. But it is delicious.
Anna says
All those flavors sound so good. I am going to have to try this!
Laura says
Anna – Hope you do. It’s really a wonderful dish. And freezes beautifully.
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says
YUM – I love butter chicken. Such an aromatic blend in that sauce!
Laura says
Ashley – I agree, so aromatic, especially as the sauce cooks.
Katie Zeller says
I’ve heard of this but never had it – or seen a recipe. I’m starting to get into Indian food. Looks fantastic!
Laura says
Katie, Thanks for stopping by. It seems to be a standby of the Indian restaurants I’ve been to – not too spicy for English and American tastes and still quite flavorful.
Lisa (Panning The Globe) says
Laura you keep posting recipes that make me want to run right to the grocery store and cook them immediately! Reading about this butter chicken is having that same effect on me. I’m going out to dinner tonight, but I will definitely have to make this soon!
Laura says
Lisa, You are too sweet! I did love this butter chicken. When I needed to make it last a little longer, I just added a bit of extra chicken broth to the sauce and bingo – enough for another meal:)
Sarah says
Butter chicken is always what I order when we go for Indian. I’ve made it a couple of times, and this looks amazing! Great SRC pick.
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass says
You are so adventurous in the kitchen Laura! I love this Indian dish. I’ve recently seen several recipes out there for butter chicken, but I am really wanting to try yours! Have a beautiful Tuesday Laura!