BUTTER CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
For Marination:
1 kg boneless chicken
1 cup hung curd
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander powder

For Curry
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
8-9 peppercorns
2-3 cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg (jaiphal)
1-2 mace(javitri)
1 tsp cardamom powder or 2-3 cardamoms
4 sliced onions
5-6 roughly chopped tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp chicken masala
2 tsp shahi paneer masala
1 tsp dry mango powder (Amchoor powder)
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi powder)
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 cup fresh cream
2 tsp kasuri meethi powder
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cashewnut paste (take around 7-8 cashews and grind it, add some milk and grind it, your paste is ready)
salt and red chilli to taste
For GRILLING
2-3 tbsp mustard oil or any oil of your choice

METHOD
For marination take chicken and wash it well. Prick it with the fork or knife.

Take hung curd and mix all the spices mentioned under it. Rub the hung curd mix well all over the chicken. Keep in fridge overnight or 2-3 hours.

For Curry:
1. In a bowl mix, cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cardamom, nutmeg, mace and cloves.

2. In other bowl, mix together garam masala, coriander powder, salt, chilli powder, chicken masala, dry mango powder and shahi paneer masala.

Heat some oil in pan, add the above spices(1), saute for a minute. Add sliced onions, let it turn brown. Add chopped tomatoes. Mix well. Add mixed dry spices(2) mentioned above.

Cover with lid and cook till tomatoes becomes soft and tender. This will take around 5-10 minutes.

Open the lid and let it come down to room temperature. Transfer in a jar and blend till smooth.

In same pan, add butter and put the gravy, add tomato sauce and let it cook on low flame for about 20-25 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally. Till the time its getting cooked take another pan.

In other pan, heat mustard oil till fumes starts coming, put marinated chicken and grill from both the sides on high flame, this will release lot of water, don't worry and grill for not more than 3-4 minutes or chicken will become too hard.

Check if curry is done, see the colour of the curry,it should become reddish in colour and oil should start leaving the sides of pan.

Once it's done add cashew paste and grilled chicken pieces in it. Add around 2 glass of water and cover and cook.

Here water is needed to add as while grilling all the water gets dried up.

Cover with lid and cook for 15-20 minutes or till it is done.

Once chicken is cooked add sugar, kasuri meethi, cream. Cook for another 5 minutes. At this point of time curry will become thick. If required add some more water.

Turn off the flame and let chicken rest for at least 1 hour for better taste as it chicken will absorb curry and it will taste better.

After 1-2 hours enjoy yummy butter chicken with tandoori roti or normal chapatis.

NOTES:
1. Prick the chicken pieces so that it absorbs marination.

2. I recommend to keep the marinated chicken overnight for better results, in case you are short of time keep it for at least 2 hours.

3. I prefer mixing all the spices as it helps blending masalas uniformly, if you want you can skip doing this.

4. I grilled chicken pieces on tawa with some oil, you can grill in oven at 180 degree for 10 minutes.

5. Using mustard oil for grilling gives great taste, one can skip this and use normal cooking oil.

6. Here I used shahi paneer masala also for great taste, I highly recommend to use it, I used MDH shahi paneer masala, you can use brand of your choice.

7. Cashew paste makes the curry tasty and thick, don?t skip it. In case you don't have cashews, mix 2 tbsp of cornflour with 1/2 cup of water and add.

8. Add kasuri meethi in end to retain its flavour and fragrance.

9. It's always better to rest chicken for 2-3 hours minimum. As it helps in absorption of curry in chicken

Pictorial:

1. Wash well, prick the pieces of chicken with knife or fork and marinate chicken with the method mentioned above and keep in fridge overnight if possible or for 2-3 hours.

2. In a bowl, mix all the dry spices mentioned under (1), so that it can be added together in oil and can be sauteed uniformly.

3. Heat some oil in pan, add dry spices together, saute for a minute.

4. Add sliced onions and saute till golden in colour.

5. Add chopped tomatoes.

6. Mix all the spices mentioned under (2).

7. Add the mixed spices.

8. Cover and cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes or till tomatoes becomes soft and tender. Let this mix come down to room temperature.

9. Grind it to make smooth paste.

10. In the same pan, add butter and transfer the curry.

11. Add tomato sauce and cook the curry on low flame till it leaves the sides of pan and become reddish in colour. Till the time curry is getting cooked, let's grill the chicken pieces.