I find you today with a recipe Butter Chicken, also called “Murg Makani“. One of the dishes from other countries that I love for its richness and use of spices: Indian cuisine, I have been to a good Indian restaurant many times, I think it is one of my favorite dishes (along with lentil curry!). What we call “Indian cuisine” is actually a regrouping of many regional cuisines because, like French cuisine, each region has its own specialties. Sauerkraut in the East, Chrysanthemum in the South, etc. The same goes for many gastronomies around the world.
Indian cuisine is a mix of vegetables, beans, spices available in different regions of this great country! Vegetarian cuisine also forms a large part, as the consumption of animal products is marked by the precepts of the religions that exist in the country. However, there are some dishes based on fish or poultry, often chicken, such as the famous tandoori chicken, or butter chicken!
What is Butter Chicken?
As the name suggests, butter chicken is a dish made of chicken, butter and spices. This is a fairly “recent” dish in Indian cuisine, which originated in Delhi, is actually very easy to cook: the chicken is grilled and then marinated in a very spicy sauce. Spices slightly spicy). Spices is a mixture of spices (often called “curry” here). So the chicken will cook slowly in its marinade and taste the spices… if you’re sensitive to spices, go your way because… it gets a little hot! The little peculiarity of this dish is that the sauce is made with butter and cream, so it is a rich and eclectic dish, with a very covered sauce… but ultimately not so rich in butter!
This dish is best served with steamed basmati rice (or Indian flavored rice, as I call it) along with still hot naan. I couldn’t resist the urge to add a little cilantro!
A good butter chicken takes time. The meat is first marinated, then grilled, and finally simmered in sauce. I decided to skip the long “marinade” step to focus on slow cooking… because I was hungry! The marinade allows the meat to be very tender… but also to take on the flavor of the spice mix.
In the recipe below, I’ll tell you the exact duration of the marinade… but be careful, if you’re sensitive to spices, and especially chili, you may need to adjust to your own taste!
What spices for butter chicken?
To make the butterchicken, we will be using the spices in 2 batches. First we will make the marinade (yogurt based) with curd Garam Masala, which is a mixture of already roasted spices, the composition of which is very variable but we often find black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin sometimes with cloves, nutmeg, coriander seeds…
So we will use this garam masala as a base, to which we will add other spices like paprika and chili for the marinade.
The rest of the spices, i.e. a little ground coriander, will be added in cooking the onion/garlic and ginger depending on the sauce. You can also add more cumin or cinnamon or turmeric if you want. Personally, I don’t use a lot of cinnamon for this dish, preferring the flavor of the coriander and paprika.
As for the choice of spices, I usually use the Nomi brand (find the link in the recipe) or Roller blends. I’ve never tasted its spice, I’ll have to try it one day…
You can also use Nomi’s Butter Chicken Mix! Simple, Effective: All the spices are in small bags, all you have to do is follow the recipe that comes with it (simple but delicious).
Part: 4 People
Prepare Butter Chicken
