Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken)
- TM31
- TM5
- TM6
- Difficulty Moderate
- Active time 40 minutes
- Total time 1 hour 15 minutes
- Servings 6 portions
- Chicken
- 800 g chicken thigh fillets, each thigh cut into 8 pieces
- 30 g lemon juice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 150 g natural yoghurt
- 120 g tandoori paste (see Tips)
- oil, for greasing
- Butter sauce
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 cm cinnamon quill
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 45 g ghee (see Tips)
- 1-2 brown onions (approx. 180 g), cut into halves
- 20 g ginger paste (see Tips)
- 10 g garlic paste (see Tips)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 fresh long green chillies, trimmed and cut into halves (optional)
- 20 sprigs fresh coriander, leaves, stalks and roots, cut into thirds, plus extra leaves for garnishing (see Tips)
- 400 g canned whole tomatoes
- 70 g water
- 70 g cashews, plus extra for garnishing
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp garam masala (see Tips)
- 100 g pouring (whipping) cream
Preparation
Chicken
- Place a bowl onto mixing bowl lid and weigh chicken and lemon juice into it, toss to combine. Rub salt over chicken. Place bowl back onto mixing bowl lid and weigh yoghurt and Tandoori paste. Rub marinade into chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and place into refrigerator to marinate for a minimum of 20 minutes or overnight.
- Preheat grill. Line a baking tray (30 x 40 cm) with aluminium foil, then grease with oil and set aside.
- Place chicken onto prepared tray and grill for 8 minutes, turning every 3-4 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and edges are slightly blackened. Set aside to cool slightly.
Butter sauce
- Place cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cardamom pod and fenugreek seeds into mixing bowl and roast 2 min/Varoma/speed 1. Allow to cool in mixing bowl for 1 minute, then mill 1 min/speed 10. Transfer into a bowl and set aside. Do not clean mixing bowl.
- Place ghee, onion, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, chillies (optional) and half of the fresh coriander into mixing bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 7.
- Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula and cook
10 min/100°C/speed 1, without measuring cup. - Add reserved spices, avoiding blades and cook 1 min/100°C/speed 1. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula.
- Add tomatoes, water and cashews and cook 7 min/100°C/speed
, placing simmering basket instead of measuring cup onto mixing bowl lid. - Add 20 g of the butter and the remaining coriander and blend
30 sec/speed 4-8, increasing speed gradually from speed 4 to speed 8. - Add reserved marinated chicken and garam masala. Lightly stir with aid of spatula, then cook 5 min/90°C/
/speed 
or until chicken is hot. Adjust seasoning as needed. - Add cream and remaining 20 g butter. Lightly stir with aid of spatula, then cook 2 min/70°C//speed 1, until butter melts. Garnish with extra cashews and coriander leaves and serve with your choice of rice.
, placing simmering basket instead of measuring cup onto mixing bowl lid.
Tips & Tricks
- To make your own Tandoori paste, ghee, ginger paste, garlic paste and garam masala, refer to the recipes on Cookidoo.
- Clean and scrape down the roots of your coriander to remove the tougher, more fibrous bits on the outside before adding to the mixing bowl.
- To save time, grill the marinated chicken while the onions are cooking. For a smoky flavour, grill the marinated chicken on the barbecue.
- We served ours with rice, you can serve with rice or bread of choice.
Variations
- If you prefer your sauce to be a bit thinner, add an additional 30 g water when adding chicken to the mixing bowl.
- If you do not want to grill your chicken, reduce yoghurt to 100 g and omit water from recipe. Add chicken when adding garam masala and cook
15-20 min/100°C//speed . Proceed as per remainder of recipe.
