Restaurant Style Butter Chicken

Ingredients

Marinade

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp red chili powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tbsp kasuri methi

½ lime, juiced

2 chicken breasts

Chicken

2 tbsp oil

Gravy

1 tbsp oil

1 red onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic

1” piece ginger, peeled

3 dried red chilis

28 oz (2 cans) tomato sauce

1 ½ tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp red chili powder

Final Steps

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp butter

2” piece cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods

3-4 whole cloves

1 bay leaf

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp kasuri methi, crushed

½ cup heavy cream

Directions

Marinade

1. In a medium bowl with a lid, add in the yogurt and all the spices and lime juice for the marinade. Mix well

2. Cut chicken into large chunks and mix into the marinade. Allow to marinate at least 1 hour, but overnight is always best!

Chicken

1. Heat oil. Once nice and hot add in the chicken. Make sure not to over crowd the pan. Cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Don’t worry if it doesn’t cook 100%, it will have time to finish cooking in the gravy later. Once finished, keep aside while we work on the gravy!

Gravy

1. Heat oil in a clean pan. Once hot add in the sliced onions and sauté a minute. Then toss in the garlic, ginger, and red chilis. You do not need to worry about chopping these too much, as we’ll be pureeing this later

2. Pour in your tomato sauce, and now we really just want to give this time to cook down. Cover and allow this to simmer for at least 20 minutes to cook those tomatoes and for it to reduce

3. Once your tomatoes have cooked and reduced, add in all your spices and cook for another 2-3 minutes

4. Finally, turn off the heat and allow this to cool. Then place in a blender and puree until smooth

Putting it together!

1. To a clean pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and toss in 2 tbsp butter. Once butter has melted add in your cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf. Sauté a couple minutes until fragrant

2. Add the cumin and mustard seeds. Oil should be hot enough that they “pop” when you add them. You can test this by adding 1 cumin seed to see if you need to increase the heat first or not

3. Return pureed gravy to the pan. Be careful, your pan will be hot and your gravy will bubble up! Pour in 1 cup of water. I like to add it to my blender to make sure I get everything back in to the pan!

4. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add in your garam masala and kasuri methi. Now is the time to taste your gravy and adjust any spices as needed per your taste

5. Add chicken in to the gravy. Stir well to coat and allow this to simmer a good 5 minutes so all those flavors can marry together

6. Now pour in your heavy cream and mix well. Allow this to continue simmering another 10-15 min. for the best flavor.

7. Garnish with cilantro. Best served with rice or naan!