You will need for the gravy:
- Tomatoes 15 to 20 diced (or 2 cans of diced tomatoes, I prefer the vine ripe variety however)
- Oil (1 tbsp) and butter (Honestly, why bother measuring the damn thing. I mean, it's called 'butter' chicken for a reason, right? Use as much or little as you can justify)
- Cardamoms about 5 or 7 (toasted in a dry pan and powdered fresh)
- Mace, powdered 1 1/2 tsp
- Garlic crushed 8 (or more if you dare) cloves
- Ginger about an inch or inch-and-a-half piece grated or pounded using a mortal and pestle
Ingredients for the chicken marinade (to make tandoori chicken):
Chicken; you may use any cut of chicken i.e. whole, thighs, bone in chunks, breasts (cut into size-able chunks). It's completely and utterly upto you and what cut you prefer.
Ginger; about 3 inches of a root in length and about 1 inch wide
Garlic; 6 cloves
Yoghurt; 1/2 cup Greek variety (or you can hang the yogurt using muslin cloth and give it a dense and rich texture)
Turmeric 1 tsp
Red chili powder 3 tsp
Coriander (toasted on a dry pan and powdered fresh) 3 tsp
Cumin (toasted on a dry pan and powdered fresh) about a teaspoon
Black pepper powder 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp
Cayenne pepper 1 tsp
Oil 2 tsp
Fresh Cilantro
Lime wedge
Heavy cream 2 tbsp
Honey 1 tbsp
Kasuri methi -fenugreek leaves 1 tbsp
Method:
To start things off we'll make the marinade for the chicken because the chicken has to have the full spectrum of flavours pop. Blend all the fresh cilantro, lime juice, garlic, ginger, red chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and yogurt to get a thick marinade mix. After dicing the chicken to the size of chunks you prefer, marinade the chicken and set them aside for at least thirty minutes. You can do this process the night before and leave the marinating chicken for 8-10 hours/ overnight.
After the chicken has been adequately marinated, grill or bake the chicken on 400*F for at least 40 minutes. Once the chicken is in the oven or is being grilled it's time to make the sauce.
For the sauce, we start with butter. And I can't stress this enough, if you think you have enough butter, put a little bit more (or don't, whatever floats your boat!). In a big,shallow pan start melting the butter and add the mace, cardamom, garlic and ginger as the butter is slowly melting. Make sure to not have the heat on high as it will burn the butter and the garlic and yea, no one wants burnt garlic. So as the butter starts to heat up, add the diced tomatoes and quickly but carefully stir the tomatoes so that the aromatics are thoroughly combined. Let this cook on medium heat for as long as you can bear to let the pot simmer. I'd say cook the sauce no less than 30 minutes. Once the sauce looks and smells like a garlicky-tomatoey goodness, pour it into a big bowl and using a hand blender, pulverize the sauce.
Now, using a strainer, strain the sauce back into the same pan. Make sure that there is enough seasoning in the sauce and keep the heat at a simmer. At this point, check to see if the chicken is cooked; if it isn't, give it more time till it's done. If it is, depending on what cut of the chicken you used, make it into bite sized portions and add it to the sauce which should be simmering by now. Now you can add the cream, honey, and kasuri methi to the sauce and give it a good stir. Making sure that the chicken pieces are evenly covered in the gravy, let the curry sit for fifteen or twenty minutes before serving it with hot basmati rice or fresh baked naan.
Method:
To start things off we'll make the marinade for the chicken because the chicken has to have the full spectrum of flavours pop. Blend all the fresh cilantro, lime juice, garlic, ginger, red chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and yogurt to get a thick marinade mix. After dicing the chicken to the size of chunks you prefer, marinade the chicken and set them aside for at least thirty minutes. You can do this process the night before and leave the marinating chicken for 8-10 hours/ overnight.
After the chicken has been adequately marinated, grill or bake the chicken on 400*F for at least 40 minutes. Once the chicken is in the oven or is being grilled it's time to make the sauce.
For the sauce, we start with butter. And I can't stress this enough, if you think you have enough butter, put a little bit more (or don't, whatever floats your boat!). In a big,shallow pan start melting the butter and add the mace, cardamom, garlic and ginger as the butter is slowly melting. Make sure to not have the heat on high as it will burn the butter and the garlic and yea, no one wants burnt garlic. So as the butter starts to heat up, add the diced tomatoes and quickly but carefully stir the tomatoes so that the aromatics are thoroughly combined. Let this cook on medium heat for as long as you can bear to let the pot simmer. I'd say cook the sauce no less than 30 minutes. Once the sauce looks and smells like a garlicky-tomatoey goodness, pour it into a big bowl and using a hand blender, pulverize the sauce.
Now, using a strainer, strain the sauce back into the same pan. Make sure that there is enough seasoning in the sauce and keep the heat at a simmer. At this point, check to see if the chicken is cooked; if it isn't, give it more time till it's done. If it is, depending on what cut of the chicken you used, make it into bite sized portions and add it to the sauce which should be simmering by now. Now you can add the cream, honey, and kasuri methi to the sauce and give it a good stir. Making sure that the chicken pieces are evenly covered in the gravy, let the curry sit for fifteen or twenty minutes before serving it with hot basmati rice or fresh baked naan.
