| BUTTER
CHICKEN
MURGH MAKHANI
(DELHI)
Chicken Makhain, make either
with tikkas - derived from the Hindi word tukra and
meaning piecees- or quarters of chicken, is the most popular dish
in Indian restaurants both in India and overseas. It is essentially
a restaurant and not a homestly dish, because there are no tandoors
in Indian home kitchens, and this dish consists of tandoor-cooked
chicken in a sauce.
However, since the dish is so popular, many would like to recreate
it at home, and i give a simpllified way to do so here, cooking
the chicken in a skillet. Alternaatively, it is possible to roast
a whole small chicken, marinating it first then quartering it and
adding the juices from the roasting pan into the makhani
sauce.Butter chicken originated in the 1950s at the Moti Mahal restaurant
in Delhi where they made the sauce by adding butter and tomato to
the leftover chicken juices in the marinade trays from which they
used to sell hundreds of portions of Tandoori Chicken every day.
Serves 4
900g chicken (skinned quarters, smaller
pieces on the bone) or boneless pieces (tikkas)
4-5 tablespoons oil
| For
the marinade |
For
the makhani sauce |
| 2
cups whole milk yoghurt |
700g
tomatoes |
| 6
garlic cloves |
1/2
teaspoon kasuri methi
(dried fenugreek leaves) |
| 1/2-in
(11-cm) square of fresh ginger |
75g
chilled butter |
| 1
teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder |
1/2
teaspoon red chilli powder |
| 1/4
teaspoon coriander powder |
1
teaspoon ginger garlic puree |
1/2
teaspoon cumin powder
a tiny pinch of tandoori colouring (optional) |
1/4
teaspoon garam masala powder |
| 1/2
teaspoon salt |
salt |
| 2
teaspoons lime juice |
11/2
oz (40g) single cream |
a tiny pinch of tandoori colouring (optional)
1 First prepare the marinade. Place the yoghurt in a piece
of cheesecloth and leave to hang to allow the whey to drip aaway.
Puree the garlic and ginger in a blender. Add this and the marinade
spices, salt and lime juice to the yoghurt aand mix well.
2 Scald the tomatoes for the makhani sauce and peel
off the skin. Reduce to a semi-pulp with a fork or potato masher.
Put ther kasuri methi into a ginder and drefuce to a powder.
You will have to grind a larger quantity but use only 1/2
teaspoon.
3 Make gashes in the Chicken is using pieces on the bone.
Marinate the chicken in the yoghurt mixture for at least 1 hour,
preferably 2; for best results leave overnight.
4 When ready to cook, heat the oil in a large, thick- bottomed
skillet and put in the chicken with the marinade. Cover an cook
over a low heart until ldone. Turn the chicken over during cooking.
5 Put the tomato pulp in to a frying pan and cook for 5 minutes
or so until the liquid has evaporated slightly.
6 Add the chilled butter and chilli powder, ginger and garlic
puree; after the butter has melted, let it cook for just 1 minute.
Add the kasuri methi and garam masala powder and
salt to taste.After 30 seconds, add the scrream and stir. The sauce
is now ready. Pour it into the skillet and mix well with the chicken.
Serve immediately.
If butter is cooked for longeer than 3 minutes it will begin
to turn into ghee and become a grainy emulsion. So start with chilled
butter and cook for less than 2 minutes after the butter has melthd.You
can cook the chicken ahead of time. But makhani sauce takes only
5-6 minutes to prepare and
should be made when the dish is to be eaten. You can cook the tomaaato
ahead, but add the butter just before serving.In India, restaurateurs
mix a little raw papaya puree into the marinade as a tenderizer.
And they
sometimes us black rock salt in the makhani sauce. |
