Traditional butter chicken: Delhi's murgh makhani with tandoori chicken in a creamy tomato and butter sauce

Butter chicken was born by accident at Moti Mahal, a Delhi restaurant, in the 1950s. The owners, refugees from Peshawar after the partition of India, made tandoori chicken in the clay oven and, to avoid wasting the leftover pieces that dried out, plunged the meat into a sauce of tomato, butter and cream. The leftover trick became the most ordered Indian dish on the planet.

Murgh makhani, buttered chicken, has two stages: the marinade of yogurt, lemon, ginger, garlic and spices, followed by a very hot grill or oven that gives the tandoor char; and the sauce, made of tomato cooked with butter, cashews for body, cream, and the final touch of kasuri methi, dried fenugreek leaves, and garam masala.

It is milder than most northern Indian curries, slightly sweet and very creamy, which is why it wins over people who do not like chili. Hot naan to scrape up the sauce is mandatory; basmati rice is the alternative.

Recipe card

• Origin: Delhi, India
• Category: Main course, curry
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus 2 to 12 hours of marinating)
• Cooking time: 50 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients — chicken and marinade

• 800 g boneless chicken thigh, in large pieces
• 1/2 cup whole-milk plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste (or 3 garlic cloves and 3 cm ginger, grated)
• 1 teaspoon paprika or Kashmiri chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil

Ingredients — sauce

• 80 g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 800 g ripe tomatoes, chopped (or 2 cans of peeled tomatoes)
• 1/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon paprika or Kashmiri chili
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) rubbed between the palms
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 150 ml heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• Chopped cilantro to finish

Method

1. Mix the chicken with all the marinade ingredients, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
2. Spread the chicken on a baking sheet and place in an oven preheated to 250 °C with the grill on for 15 minutes, until charred at the edges (or grill on a very hot griddle). Set aside with the juices it releases.
3. Melt half the butter in a pan and sauté the onion for 5 minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 1 minute.
4. Add the tomato, cashews, cinnamon, cardamom, paprika, sugar and salt and cook on medium for 25 minutes, until the tomato breaks down.
5. Remove the cinnamon and cardamom and blend the sauce until very smooth. Pass through a sieve to make it velvety.
6. Return the sauce to the pan with the rest of the butter, add the chicken with its juices and cook for 10 minutes on low.
7. Add the cream, kasuri methi and garam masala, stir and cook for another 3 minutes without boiling hard. Adjust the salt and sugar.
8. Serve with cilantro on top, hot naan and basmati rice.

Tips and variations

• Kasuri methi is the aroma that identifies the dish; it is worth seeking out at Indian grocery stores.
• Sieving the sauce is the difference between homemade and restaurant.
• Without cashews, use blanched almonds or a little more cream.
• Paneer instead of chicken makes paneer makhani, the classic vegetarian version.
• The sauce can be made the day before; the chicken, grilled fresh.
• Kashmiri chili gives the bright red color without much heat; sweet paprika is the substitute.
• A drizzle of cream on top and a pinch of kasuri methi at serving time are the restaurant finish.

Butter chicken is the hug of Indian cooking: creamy, fragrant, with the char of the chicken hidden in a sauce of tomato and butter. With hot naan, it is impossible to leave sauce on the plate.