Butter Chicken

Name: Butter Chicken
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon chilli powder; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon garam masala; 4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed; 400 g (14 oz) tin chopped tomatoes; 1¼ teaspoons salt; 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets, cut into fairly large pieces; 5 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter; 6 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves; 1 large onion, thinly sliced; 4 tablespoons thick (double/heavy) cream; 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 80 g (½ cup) blanched almonds; 170 ml (⅔ cup) thick plain yoghurt; 2 cm (¾ inch) piece of ginger, roughly chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Food of India

By Priya Wickramasinghe

Published 2005

About

Butter chicken, or murgh makhni, is a moghul dish that has many versions. The butter in the title refers to ghee, a type of clarified butter. rice is an ideal accompaniment and pieces of roti or naan can be used to mop up the delicious juices.

Ingredients

2 cm (¾ inch) piece of ginger, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves

Method

Blend the ginger and garlic together to a paste in a food processor or pestle and mortar, or crush the garlic and finely grate the ginger and mix them together. Grind the almonds in a food processor or finely chop with a knife. Put the paste and almonds in a bowl with the yoghurt, chilli powder, cloves, cinnamon, garam masala, cardamom pods, tomato and salt, and blend together with a fork. Add