Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

03/04/09 update:
Check out the Better Butter Chicken recipe HERE.
The new recipe is a bit more complicated than this one but it's worth the effort!

In POZ, there is a really good Indian Restaurant, "Taj India" by Malta Lake. It's opened by a Indian family, i think, and they serve really good curry + bottomless rice. I really like their Butter Chicken but that restaurant 真的有點遠... so I decided to try making it at home. I've always been hesitant to make Indian Curry cuz their recipes always look so complicated. They use tons of ingredients that i cant even pronounce and figuring out the Polish translation for those spices is even more impossible. So like everyone else, i just make the normal Japanese curry cubes or the Taiwanese curry powder my mom sent me. Anyways, i found this recipe online that used normal and easy ingredients and gave it a go.

Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)
from allrecipes.com with my own changes
yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon peanut oil (or whatever oil you have)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped (紅蔥頭 PP 沒有. So left it out)
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (I only used garlic)
• 2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (I used real 辣椒)
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 5 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup cream or milk
• 1 cup tomato puree (I blended 1 can of chopped tomatoes)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (I used real 辣椒)
• 1.5 tablespoon of sugar, or to taste
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper


• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper (I used real 辣椒)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed in 1/4 cup water.

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
2. Saute onion until soft and translucent.
3. Stir in butter, lemon juice, garlic , 2 teaspoon garam masala,辣椒, cumin and bay leaf.
4. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
5. Add tomato sauce, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Stir in cream/milk and yogurt.
7. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
8. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar to Taste.
9. Remove from heat and set aside.
10. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.
11. Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
12. Reduce heat, and season with 2 teaspoon garam masala and 辣椒.
13. Stir in a few spoonfuls of sauce, and simmer until liquid has reduced, and chicken is no longer pink.
14. Stir all the sauce into cooked chicken.
15. Mix together cornstarch and water, then stir into the sauce.
16. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.

Note: the original recipe on the website didn’t really satisfy JLo’s taste buds so we added a lot of things in there. I’d say try adding more sugar and salt. If you want, you can try adding Soy sauce in there too. Up to you, just taste it as you go.

The outcome was YUMMY! I used 2 chicken breasts + 2 chicken thighs. And in all, I made 一大炒鍋的Chicken. After Johnny and I finished cooking, we were like, "怎麼那麼多....吃不完就明天在吃"....結果我們兩個居然全部都吃光了!! Not to mention, Johnny 煮的一鍋飯也都ㄎㄧㄥˊ廖廖.
　

I LLLUUURRRVVEEEE potatoes so even though adding potatoes to this recipe wont make it “authentically Indian”, I did it anyways. If you care more about your food more than you care about your waistline (like me), just boil your potatoes beforehand and add it into the sauce and let it simmer. When your chicken is ready, pour the sauce + potatoes in and let it cook.

Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

Masala curry powder JLo bought at
the Chinese food store in Stary Browar.

It only costs 7.50 zl.