Butter Chicken at Home: Marinated Chicken in a Silky Tomato, Butter and Cream Makhani Gravy

A proper butter chicken recipe stands or falls on its gravy — silky enough to coat the back of a spoon, gently tangy from tomatoes, rich with butter and finished with that swirl of cream that makes everyone hungrier. Restaurants work no magic here. They marinate the chicken well, sear it hard, and strain the gravy smooth. Do those two things at home and the result is honestly not far off the restaurant version at all.

Ingredients

For the chicken: 500g boneless chicken in two-inch pieces; half a cup of yoghurt; one tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste; one teaspoon of red chilli powder; half a teaspoon of turmeric; one teaspoon of salt; one tablespoon of lemon juice. For the gravy: four large tomatoes or 400g tomato puree; 50g butter; one tablespoon of oil; one teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste; one teaspoon of Kashmiri red chilli powder; half a teaspoon of garam masala; one teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi); one teaspoon of sugar; half a cup of fresh cream; salt to taste; fresh coriander to finish.

Method

Mix the chicken with the yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste, chilli, turmeric, salt and lemon, and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour — overnight is better. Sear it in a little oil over high heat until the edges colour and the pieces are cooked through, then set aside. In the same pan, melt the butter with the oil, fry the ginger-garlic paste briefly, add the tomatoes and salt, cover and cook until the tomatoes collapse completely and oil rises at the edges. Cool slightly, blend and strain — the straining is what makes the gravy silky. Return the gravy to the pan, stir in the Kashmiri chilli, sugar and garam masala, add the chicken and simmer five to seven minutes. Finish with the cream and the kasuri methi crushed between your palms, bring it to one gentle boil and take it off the heat; boiling hard after the cream goes in can split the gravy.

Serving

Draw a thin line of cream over the top and scatter coriander. Butter chicken is at its best with hot naan, lachha parathas or zeera rice. Any gravy left over the next day happily becomes a new dish with boiled eggs or paneer dropped into it.