Murgh Makhani/Butter Chicken

At the end of May this year we went in India, we spent a few days in Mumbai before heading south, by train, to Ratnigiri for a couple of days and then finally headed further south to Goa. It was a great experience filled with even greater food, in particular some seriously good butter chicken.

Even made the naan myself too!

On returning home, armed with a butter chicken blend of spices from Mumbai and Rick Stein's India cookbook I had to give this a go. The recipe is taken from his book. Where he has put spices I used the spice blend I picked up in Mumbai then tweaked it at the end by adding a little bit of the spices I thought it needed.

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts, chopped into large chunks

First Marinade

• Juice of 2 limes
• 1tsp Chilli powder (as hot or as mild as you like)
• 1 tsp Salt

Second Marinade

• 50g natural yogurt
• 50g double cream
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 5cm ginger, roughly chopped
• 1tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin

The sauce

• 50g ghee (I used butter)
• 5 crushed garlic cloves
• 5cm ginger, grated
• 400g carton of passata
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp desiccated coconut
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml water
• 25g cashew nuts
• 25g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
• 45ml double cream

Method:

1. Put the lime juice, chili powder and salt into a bowl. Add the chicken and toss until coated. Cover with cling film and leave to marinade for an hour in the fridge.
   
2. Add all the ingredients for the second marinade into a food processor and whizz up until it is smooth. Add this to the chicken and ensure every piece is thoroughly coated. Cover with cling film again and leave to marinade for another 4 hours.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 240c (this is hotter than some ovens allow, in that case just crank it up as high as it will go). Get a wire rack, I used a cooling rack, and suspend it over a baking sheet. Lay your chicken pieces on top of this and cook in the over for 15 - 20 minutes. You want the chicken to be lightly charred but not completely cooked as it's still got to be cooked in the sauce.
   
4. Melt the ghee/butter in a large, heavy-based, saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger for a minute, add the passata and simmer for 5 minutes.
   
5. Add the spices, coconut, salt and 100ml of water and simmer for another 10 minutes. After this your chicken should be ready to remove from the oven.
6. Whilst the sauce is cooking blend the cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and 2 tablespoons of boiling water in a food processor until it's as smooth as you can get it - place to one side as you'll need it in a moment!
7. Add the chicken, 100ml of water and your cashew and pumpkin paste and simmer for a final 10 minutes. Finish with the fenugreek leaves, sugar and cream.
   
8. Serve with a handful of coriander leave and some shredded ginger, if you fancy it.