Butter Chicken

Who wouldn't be tempted by the buttery flavourful chicken gravy that we so often come across at restaurants. Well I always assumed they add a lot of butter to get the gravy thick and creamy, but I was wrong. My microwave recipe booklet has this recipe for butter chicken that uses hung curd. I adapted the recipe from the booklet, except that I used the pressure cooker instead of the microwave.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken - 350 gms

Hung curd - approximately 300ml

Oil - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Grind together:

Onion - 1 large

Tomato - 1                                                        

Curry leaves - 10

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

How to make hung curd: Take creamy thick curd (I used Amul masti Dahi - 400 ml appox) and filter out the water with a thin muslin cloth. Leave the curd in the cloth to drain out the water for about 20 minutes. Scrape the hung curd from the muslin cloth and store in a bowl.

To make butter chicken:

Wash and clean the chicken pieces and marinate in lemon juice for 15-20 minutes.

Heat the oil in a heavy cooker. Add the ground masala paste and saute till the raw smell is gone and there is good aroma. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a few minutes. Add the hung curds and cook the chicken pieces well. When done, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or rice

Verdict: The flavour is wonderfully buttery (all the milk solids from the curd) and thick. It is a definite hit with both rotis and rice.