Murgh Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

I know it's not truly "authentic" but we love butter chicken anyway- creamy buttery spicy sauce with delicate pieces of chicken- very good on indian breads like nan and pooris.

After scouring the web and a couple tests in the kitchen, this is it!

Prepare ahead by food processing equal parts garlic and ginger until minced or like a paste. Reserve and use as directed below.

Cut 500 grams raw chicken (preferably chicken breast) into thin slices, mix with:
1 tea ginger garlic paste
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tea coriander powder
pinch salt

In hot pan, shallow fry chicken in 2 TB olive oil until half-cooked and set aside chicken.

In oiled pan with chicken fond (from above), add & cook covered for a bit, pulling up the chicken fond:
2 TB oil 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 onion 1 tea garlic ginger paste 4 piece cashew nuts ¼ tea fenugreek seeds little bit of water

Then add:
2 green chilies (Serrano) 2 tea coriander powder 1 tea cumin powder 200 grams tomatoes, chopped (2-3 tomatoes) optional 1/2 tsp Crushed fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

Cook it slowly, so the tomatoes are fully mashed. If you don’t cook the tomatoes enough, they will have too much acid- which causes texture problems when you add the cream later. Pour into a blender and whirl until smooth.

In empty pan, melt 100 grams (about ½ C) butter. Be careful not to burn the butter, so do this over low heat.

Add and stir over medium heat:
any water that oozed out of the chicken
whirled tomato-onion mixture
optional: water if needed for consistency

Add ½ C (or 100 grams) cream, stir. DO NOT substitute half & half, it doesn’t have enough fat and will separate when you add it to the sauce.

Add & mix:
¼ tea salt 1/2 tea sugar 1 tea ketchup optional red food coloring
Add half-cooked chicken, cook over medium heat until chicken is fully cooked and sauce is warm. Add sprinkle garam masala at the end.