Restaurant Style Butter Chicken

This is the best home cooked butter chicken I have ever tasted!! Butter chicken was one of the first chicken dishes that I ever ate and it is one of my favorite chicken preparations!! It is one of the most popular chicken dishes available at Indian restaurants. I always wanted to make it at home and have it be just like the authentic restaurant version which I remember eating in India. I tried out many recipes and finally, found this one. My brother had shared this recipe with me and he was so appreciative of the taste that I just had to give it a try. Oh! It was so delicious and relatively simple, so it has now become my go to butter chicken recipe. I also use the same gravy to make paneer makhani (butter paneer). I hope you love this version as much as I do. This recipe makes a large quantity of gravy and you can increase the amount of chicken to add to the gravy. You can also halve or make a smaller portion by using 1/3rd of the ingredients. 

Here is the link to the video recipe where you can see the detailed method of making it. 

Ingredients

For the chicken
2 lbs chicken thigh meat (can also use chicken breast)

1.5 tbsp garlic paste

1.5 tbsp ginger paste

2 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil +2 tsp

For the gravy

1 tbsp 

6 tbsp butter

3 lb tomatoes  (1.5 kg, about 13 mid sized), roughly chopped into eigths

10 oz onion ( 300 gm, 3/4 of a large onion), roughly diced into inch sized pieces

3 tbsp garlic paste

5 oz cashew nuts or pumpkin seeds1(50 gm)

3 tbsp white vinegar

1.5 tsp garam masala

4 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

salt to taste

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp fenugreek leaves/kasuri methi

Method

Cut the chicken into inch long strips.  In a bowl, mix together the ginger, garlic pastes, oil, chilli powder and salt. Then add all the chicken strips into the bowl and toss around to coat the chicken properly.  Cover the bowl and place in the fridge as it marinates. Marinate for at least 20 mins and upto overnight. 

In a deep saucepan, heat 1 tbsp oil and 4 tbsp butter.  Once the butter melts add the onions. And then add the garlic paste. Cook this till onions are cooked and translucent. Do not brown. Then add all the tomato pieces. Cook for a few minutes till the tomatoes start to release the juices and start getting cooked. Next add the cashews or pumpkin seeds and stir them in and cook for a minute. Then add the vinegar, garam masala, sugar, chilli powder, some salt. Remember that there was salt added to the chicken, so add only a tsp of salt. You can adjust to taste after the cooked chicken is added to the gravy.  Boil the gravy for a few minutes till it is fragrant, and turn off the heat. Let it cool and then puree in a blender. 

Now, cook the chicken. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the chicken pieces. Cook on one side for a minutes and then flip them and cook on the other side for another minute or two. We are cooking the chicken partially and then will finish cooking it in the gravy. If you want to eat the chicken pieces as a tikka, make sure to cook the chicken well till it has reached the minimum temperature of 165F or higher.  Cook all the chicken pieces. 

In a deep saucepan, heat 2 tbsp of butter. Strain the gravy through a sieve and add it to the melted butter. Once the gravy heats up, add the chicken pieces and let it boil till the chicken is cooked through. To check, use a thermometer and check the temperature of a few pieces of chicken. It should be 165F or higher.  For a visual check, cut a piece of chicken. It should cut easily and the inside should not have any pink or raw looking meat. Cooked meat turns a white color.

Then crush the fenugreek leaves between your palms, and add to the gravy. Finally add the cream and stir it in. Taste and adjust the salt. Your butter chicken is ready. Serve it hot with rice or naan. 

This makes a very large serving of chicken which can easily serve 8 people or more. You can halve the recipe for a smaller proportion.

Tips

If the chicken is frozen, I thaw it out overnight in the fridge. Clean it by patting it with a paper towel and then cut the partially frozen chicken. It is much easier to cut. Keep the chicken in the fridge during marination as well. Never leave raw chicken on the countertop as it can lead to salmonella growing on it.  You can use pumpkin seeds instead of cashew nuts to make this nut free. You can increase the amount of butter to 8 tbsp while cooking the gravy.