Butter Chicken / Murg Makhani

                            

I knew that penning down this post is not going to be easy as my mouth is already watering just mentioning the title itself "Butter Chicken". Even I was young and didn't know much cooking, I used to order this particular dish in almost every restaurant. This is perhaps the most popular chicken item in India after chicken tikka. Being a typical Panjabi dish, milk and milk products are generously used. After much trials I have finally invented the simplest way to prepare this dish. 


Serves: 2, Cooking time: 30-40 minutes, Marination time: 3-4 hours


Ingredients:
 For Marination:
1/2 kg Chicken
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1/2 cup Yogurt
1 inch Ginger
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilly powder
7-8 Garlic pods
3-4 Green chillies
6-7 drops of Orange color 
1 tsp Garam masala
Salt to taste


Masala:
3 meduim sized Onions
4 Tomatoes (pureed)
8-10 Cashews
2 tsp Watermelon seeds
1 1/2 Red chilly powder
1/2 cup Cream
150 gm Butter
1/2 Milk


Method:
Wash the chicken pieces and make incision with a sharp knife on breast and leg pieces of the chicken (this helps in through absorption of the marinated ingredients into the chicken pieces). Make a paste of green chilli, ginger and garlic. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and refrigerate for 3-4 hours. 
To prepare the chicken in oven, pre-heat the oven for 10 minutes on 180 Degree Celsius. Grease the tray well and pour the marinated chicken evenly on the tray and bake for 1/2 hours.

                                                      
         To cook it on gas, heat 100 gms butter  in a pan and fry the chicken pieces (in batches) till the color turns pink and the chicken is tender. Keep aside for later use.
Make a paste of onion and fry it in the remaining butter till it turns pink. Make a paste of cashew and watermelon seeds. Add this paste in the pan and stir fry for few minutes (make sure that the  masala does not get burnt or you will not get the desired color). Add tomato puree and fry till the oil floats on top. Add the baked/ fried chicken pieces in the pan and mix well. Pour 1/2 cup milk and stir for 2 minutes. Just before switching off the burner, add cream and stir well. Garnish with the rest of 50 gms butter, chopped coriander leaves and ginger on top.Enjoy this delicious butter chicken with lachha paratha / rumali roti or with plain paratha.