This recipe is a household staple. Best served with homemade or store bought garlic naan bread and hot Jeera or basmati rice. If you are looking for an authentic Indian butter chicken recipe, you’ve found one!
Ingredient List for Authentic Butter Chicken
To keep the recipe as authentic as possible, don’t make any substitutions. Each item is important to the dish!
Chicken (boneless preferred) – 500 gms to 1 kg (medium to small pieces)
Onions – 2 Large or 3 medium size (red is good)
Tomatoes/tomato paste – 2 large or 250 gms of tomato paste
Butter – consider 1 block (salted/unsalted)
Cashew nuts – 15-18 pcs
Kasturi Meti (dried Fenugreek leaves) – handful
Garam Masala powder – 1 tablespoon
Garlic paste – 3 tablespoons
Ginger paste – 3 tablespoons
Kashmiri Chilli Powder (this is non spicy but adds a nice deep color) – 3 tablespoons
Cream (can be whipping cream or any other fresh cream) – 3 tablespoons
Salt – as per taste
Equipment Needed
Deep pan or pot (Non stick is best)
Grinder/mixer/blender for making fine paste.
Instructions
- Take the chicken pieces in a mixing bowl.
- Add 2 tablespoons of Kashmiri chilli powder, 2 tablespoons of ginger paste and 2 tablespoons of garlic paste, salt into the bowel.
- Mix everything together evenly and set it aside for 15-20 minutes.
- Soak the cashew nuts in warm/hot water.
- Slice the onions roughly.
- Slice the tomatoes (if using fresh tomatoes) and keep them aside.
- In a deep frying pan or pot (non-stick preferred) add butter (equivalent to 6 table spoons or as necessary) and fry the chicken till they are cooked. Use medium to low heat. Don’t deep fry or let the pieces burn. Max 20 minutes
- Once the chicken is cooked, move them to another plate.
- Add more butter if required and sauté the onions till they are lightly translucent. (on medium heat)
- Add 1 tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes (a couple of minutes)
- Add the tomatoes/paste, soaked cashew nuts sauté till the butter starts separating.
- Switch off the stove and remove the cooked mixture to another plate and let it cool down.
- Once the mixture is cooled, put them in a grinder/mixture/blender and grind it to a fine paste.
- In the same frying pan or pot, add the ground paste and 1 cup of water, the fried chicken and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer and thicken to the required consistency.
- Add 2 to 3 table spoons of cream and switch off the stove.
- Crush a handful of dried fenugreek leaves with your palms and spread it over the chicken.
Butter chicken is ready to enjoy!
Authentic Indian Butter Chicken Tips and Tricks
- Adding a cube of butter in the serving bowl and some chopped fresh Coriander/Cilantro leaves would add to the flavor.
- Serve with hot Jeera rice or basmati rice and/or Garlic naan.
12 DAYS OF DECOR CHRISTMAS RECIPES
We are featuring 12 recipes that are holiday favourites from Decor Cabinets staff. Check out all the recipes on the blog.
