Servings: 6-8
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken marinade

• 1 kg chicken (if using boneless use thigh cuts)
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 5 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 cup hung yogurt
• Salt

For the curry

• 1 small onion, diced
• 10 medium sized tomatoes, diced
• 2 bay leaves (tez patta)
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 2 large cardamom pods (badi elachi)
• 5-6 cardamom pods (elachi)
• 5-6 cloves
• A handful of cashews
• Butter
• 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 head of garlic
• 1” piece of ginger
• 1 tbsp butter

Other ingredients

• 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tbsp cream
• Salt, to taste

Directions

Marinating the chicken

Clean the chicken and drain the water. And salt, lemon ,hung yogurt, ginger and garlic pastes.

Seperately, to the kashmiri chilli powder add the mustard oil and mix. Now add to the marinade. Let this rest for a minimum of 1 hour, preferably overnight. You can use a fork to make indents in meat pieces so that the marinade seeps into the meat.

Ensure you take the meat out in advance and bring it to room temperature before you grill the chicken on a grill pan.

Preparing the curry

Add all the ingredients for the curry to a vessel. Bring it to a boil and cook for about 20 to 30 mins. Remove from heat and let cool down before transferring to a blender to make a fine paste. Strain and what you should have is silky smooth purée.

In a pan add butter and transfer the puree into it. Add water to get the right consistency. Crush a few roasted fenugreek leaves using your hand and add to the pan.

Season with sugar and salt and add the grilled chicken to the pan.

Finish with fresh cream and serve hot with naan or roti.

Tips

Do not skip the step of sieving the puree after blending it. Smooth silky gravy is key for butter chicken .