Butter chicken or Murgh Makhani as it’s called in India, is one of the most well-known Indian delicacies worldwide and is famous for its sweet and spicy flavor. Serve it with any rice dish, or Indian bread such as naan, and you have a well prepared meal to serve for dinner.
Usually, making this type of curry takes forever especially since marinating the chicken is done the night before. Moreover, fresh tomatoes are used and blended to get a smooth paste. I however, took a short cut to it as the husband and I were pretty hungry, and we just wanted curry and rice for dinner. I didn’t marinate the chicken overnight, and I used tomato puree instead of fresh tomatoes to whip this up quickly, and it still tasted great!
Ingredients:
Marinade
- 1 pack of chicken breasts
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsp plain yogurt
Cut chicken into cube size pieces. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl till the chicken is well coated. Bake in the oven at 350F for about 30-40 minutes.
Side Note* For better flavor, you can marinate the chicken the night before and leave in the fridge overnight. I was in a rush so I just baked them on the day.
Curry
- 1 medium size onion
- 3 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves of chopped garlic
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 green jalapeño
- 1 can tomato puree
- 3 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp chili powder ( Can be altered depending on spice tolerance)
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp sugar
– Heat pan on medium heat and add butter. Saute onions till slightly browned. Add garlic and ginger.
– Add salt, garam masala, chili powder and jalapeno.
– Add tomato puree. The curry should start to simmer. Keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan
– Add sugar
– Let simmer on medium heat for about 5-6 minutes
– Add the chicken
– Add the cream and mix into the curry
– Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro
Rice
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Green peas -as much as you want in the rice! I put about 3 tbsp!
– Boil water. Remember 1 cup rice, 2 cups water!
– Add salt and turmeric to water. One water starts to boil, add rice and stir.
– Once rice is cooked add the green peas and mix.
Pretty in the Army 