How To Cook Restaurant-Style Butter Chicken at Home?
Butter chicken …. Just the name of this famous dish, and the mouths of chicken lovers start watering. The dish is a popular curry at any Indian restaurant round the globe. This beautifully garnished, bright-coloured butter chicken curry recipe featuring juicy chicken pieces in rich, creamy, and aromatic gravy served in restaurants is surely appealing to all your senses. But you can prepare such a lip-smacking dish in the comfort of your own home. The simple-to-follow recipe and easily available ingredient list make it easy to enjoy the lavishly delicious taste of the butter chicken curry recipe at home. The main difference between restaurant-style butter chicken and the one made at home is the use of fat, spices, and flavouring and the time invested in preparations. The butter chicken recipe needs a lot of patience as the gravy needs to be cooked at low heat, which can take time. Also, the restaurants follow standardized recipes with exact measurements. So, you need to follow exact measurements and techniques to get the best results.
So, here is the ingredient list-
- ½ kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into roughly 1-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup full-fat plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- Salt to taste
For the sauce:
- 1 large onion sliced
- 2 crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 8-10 almonds
- 8-10 cashews
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 2 tablespoons dried coriander seed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground Kashmiri Lal Mirch
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup heavy /thickened cream
- 1/2 tablespoon Kasuri Methi
Preparation-
- Marination – Marinate the chicken- add all the listed ingredients for margination in a large bowl. Mix it well and then add the chicken pieces and massage the marinade into the chicken. Cover it and let it marinate for at least an hour or overnight if time allows.
- Tomato cashew and almond paste- Soak cashews and almonds in warm water for half an hour and then grind it well to a fine paste with tomatoes and keep it aside.
- Chicken-Heat oil in a large skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Now, add 2-3 marinated chicken pieces and grill them well until browned. Once a batch completes, transfer the chicken to a separate dish. Fry all the chicken pieces, cover them, and set aside.
- Sauce- In the same skillet or pan, melt 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of the butter on medium-low heat. Add sugar to it and let it brown. Now add sliced onions and fry them till they turn golden. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir the mixture for a minute. Now add tomato paste and mix it well. This step needs patience, and the mixture needs to be cooked well for 8-10 minutes on medium-high heat. Keep stirring until the paste starts leaving the pan. Now add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, salt, and red chili powder, and fry for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring till the sauce thickens and gets dark brown and red colour. Switch off the flame and let the mixture cool. Now transfer the sauce into the mixer and blend it until smooth. This will give a fine texture to the curry-like restaurants.
- Now pour the blended mixture again into the pan/skillet. Add water and cook on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. At this stage, add garam masala to get subtle flavours. Now, add the grilled chicken when the sauce starts to boil. Give it a nice mix, and add heavy cream. Add Kasuri Methi and butter. Put the lid on the pan and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes. Switch off the flame.
Garnish it with coriander, and your restaurant-style butter chicken recipe is ready to get the best compliments. Try it now!