Ultimate butter chicken
Units
Servings
Ingredients
Chicken tikka
- 1 1/6 kg boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 5 cm pieces rounded
- 30 ml mustard oil rounded
- 30 g Kashmiri chilli powder rounded
- 30 g ginger-garlic paste rounded
- 15 g ground coriander rounded
- 5 g ground cumin rounded
- 3 g ground turmeric rounded
- 3 g dried fenugreek leaves rounded
- 3 g amchur powder rounded
- 3 g black salt rounded
- 5 g garam masala rounded
- 12 g kosher salt rounded
- 200 g strained full-fat yogurt rounded
- 15 ml lemon juice rounded
Makhani sauce
- 30 g ghee rounded
- 5 g cumin seeds rounded
- 400 g shallots or onions, sliced rounded
- 20 g garlic, chopped rounded
- 20 g ginger, chopped rounded
- 5 g green bird's-eye chilli, chopped rounded
- 30 g Kashmiri chilli powder rounded
- 15 g ground coriander rounded
- 3 g ground turmeric rounded
- 5 whole dried Kashmiri chillies rounded
- 12 green cardamom pods rounded
- 1 kg ripe chopped tomatoes rounded
- 50 g roasted unsalted cashews rounded
- 50 g coriander stems rounded
- 30 g khoya or whole milk powder (optional) rounded
- 100 ml double cream rounded
- 80 g salted butter rounded
- 20 g honey rounded
- 3 g dried fenugreek leaves rounded
Method
Method
- Mix chicken with ginger-garlic paste, salt, and lemon; rest 30 minutes, then drain released liquid.
- Mix remaining tikka ingredients, coat chicken, cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
- For sauce, heat ghee and crackle cumin. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and green chilli; cook over medium until translucent.
- Add chilli powder, coriander, turmeric, dried chillies, cardamom, tomatoes, cashews, coriander stems, and khoya. Simmer 35 to 45 minutes until tomatoes collapse.
- Add butter, cream, honey, and fenugreek. Remove whole cardamom if visible, then blend completely smooth and pass through a fine sieve. Season.
- Thread chicken onto skewers and grill under very high heat or on charcoal, turning, until lightly charred and 74°C inside.
- Fold chicken into hot sauce and simmer 5 minutes. Adjust salt, honey, and fenugreek.
Notes
- Kashmiri chilli gives colour with moderate heat; do not substitute the full quantity with cayenne.
- Mustard oil sold for external use is unsuitable for cooking; use a food-labelled product or neutral oil.
- The sauce freezes for three months without the final cream; add cream after reheating.