Murgh Makhani or Butter Chicken

Murgh Makhani AKA Butter Chicken is a modern classic Indian dish that serves marinated and grilled chicken in a rich spiced tomato sauce!

My Version of Butter Chicken.

Butter chicken has become a bit of a global sensation much like its very similar British cousin, Chicken Tikka Masala.

Both recipe hail from roughly the same time, the 1960’s/70’s and traditionally both feature “leftover” or pre-cooked chicken.

Despite the names being modern, the technique is a classic Amritsari technique.

The recipe has become many things to many people!

My version stays with the idea of a Tandoori style marinated chicken that is cooked under the grill, much like my chicken tikka kebabs.

True to all of my recipes this is made to be as good as I can make it. No shortcuts, no skipping bits this is my BEST butter chicken recipe, not an approximation of it.

It is a halfway house between the traditional Indian roots of the recipe and the recipe that the rest of the world turned it into.

The most important part of this recipe is the chicken, this is where the flavour is based.

So make sure that you do not skimp on that marinade time!

It is then gently finished off in a butter and cream rich spiced tomato sauce.

If you want something equally indulgent but are feeding vegetarians then you must try my shahi paneer recipe.

Cooking Hints and Tips.

First of all I am gonna jump in feet first and say this recipe is pure indulgence and it is better for it.

The tip for this recipe is in its name, nothing called butter anything should be a pious and skinny recipe.

If you want a dish with less fat then you should consider something like a mushroom curry or a rajma kidney bean curry.

Whilst we are on the topic of butter then you are better of making sure it is unsalted.

This allows you to salt the grilled chicken and the sauce, using salted butter would likely make the recipe too salty.

The spices should be familiar to anyone who has cooked a curry from scratch before with maybe the exception of amchoor.

It is also known as mango powder and it is made from green underripe mangoes. It adds a wonderful earthy sourness to the grilled chicken.

Serving Suggestions.

As in so many of my curry recipes, my choice of side is always a naan bread for butter chicken.

They are perfect for mopping up that thick and heavy sauce.

Although some simply cooked rice is also a really nice and simple side to go with this full-flavoured rich dish.

But you could also serve with chapatis or even Bombay potatoes if you wanted to go left field!