Another month has gone by already and it is Secret Recipe Club time again. And this month was a real treat for me. What is the SRC? Basically you are assigned a fellow participant’s blog by the organizer and then you pick a recipe of your choice from that blog and make your version of it. But it is a secret, you cannot reveal whom you picked and what you made until the established posting date and time…. which is today! I can’t wait to see who picked me.
Not only is being part of the SRC fun but I have discovered many new blogs I never knew existed. With time a small wishlist of bloggers has taken form in my mind: blogs I hoped I would be matched with. Finally one of them was assigned to me this time. I got The Novice Housewife, a great blog written by Shamaila. She explains the title of her blog as she is newly wed so novice at being a wife, she now lives in a foreign land where she has to take on the role of being a full time housewife, and she is a novice in Indian cooking.
I adore Indian food and her blog is filled with them, although she has many other kinds of recipes. But she has a themed category: Garam Masala Tuesdays. Being a fan of exotic tastes and spices I have experimented for quite some time with Indian recipes, trying to find more traditional ones. But I never tried one of the basics: Butter Chicken. Her butter chicken recipe is very different from what you get in a restaurant: it is more flavorful, has a stronger tomato base and has a nice spice to it. It was a big hit at the dinner table.
I have to say settling on a recipe was tough. I actually made another recipe from her, a Cherry Clafouti, a French dessert that I served during my raclette dinner party. Blog on that coming soon! But on to the Butter Chicken now!
Ξ Butter Chicken / Murgh Makhani Ξ
adapted from The Novice Housewife
STEP 1: Wash
- 8 medium pieces of chicken, with bones
STEP 2: First marination:
- 1 tsp ginger paste (freshly ground)
- 1 tsp garlic paste (freshly ground)
- Juice of a lime
- salt, to taste
Marinate the chicken with salt to taste, lime juice, ginger and garlic paste for 3-4hrs.
STEP 3: Second marination:
- 2 cups plain yogurt
- 1 tsp fenugreek powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- Red chilli powder, to taste
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Mix together the second marination ingredients and add to the chicken. Keep it for 4-5 hrs and then bake it in the oven for about 25 min at 375F.
STEP 4: Preparing the makhani sauce:
- 4 medium sized tomatoes
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 3-4 green chillies, slit lengthwise
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2-3 tbsp peanut butter (optional)
- 3-4 drops liquid smoke (optional, gives the gravy a smoked flavor)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander or to taste
In the mean time cook the tomatoes in a small pan with the ginger and garlic. Then process in a blender. Heat butter in the pan and saute the green chillies in it. Add the tomato puree and peanut butter. Add sauce to the chicken dish along with the marinade and bake another 25 minutes or till chicken done.
You can add some butter and cream once the gravy is cooked to give it a richer taste. Serve the chicken garnished with chopped cilantro with either Naan or rice.
I made quite a few minor changes to the recipe, one of them adding liquid smoke. decribes how to give an authentic smokey flavor on her blog but I was not equipped to do so. But I really wanted to include the smoky flavor. There is this 24 hour bagel shop near where I live that is run by Indians and they also sell Indian dishes to go. All the sauced dishes have this unique smoky taste I never really tasted in restaurants before. It really makes a big difference and after a bit of research I thought a couple of drops of liquid smoke would do the trick. It did so give it a shot.
I could smell that chicken cooking as I read your post. Sounds yummy and filling 🙂
Now this is my kind of chicken. Looks positively scrumptious. Fellow SRC member as well as a FBC. So nice to meet another Canuck.
Great recipe for SRC! Love butter chicken and am having fun myself trying some Indian recipes.
I LOVE butter chicken, and just the idea that it’s even more flavorful than your usual butter chicken, excites me..I’m dying to try it now! Your photos are mouth-watering!
This is Indian food at its best! Beautiful recipe! You have a very interesting collection of recipes in your blog!
Looks delicious. I can practically smell it through the computer screen!
Mmmm I absolutely adore butter chicken and this seriously looks amazing!
Oh, that looks so gooooood!
Terrific choice and a wonderful presentation on her recipe!
Well done
Dave, eRecipeCards.com
What a great choice for SRC! This looks so moist and tender fom all the marinating. I’ll have to give it a try!
Don’t you love the SRC? You found such a marvelous, flavorful recipe…it looks so tender and delicious!
My girlfriend has been really enjoying Indian food lately so I’m tempted to try this recipe when I’ve got some time.
SRC may be fun for you but it’s fun for us readers, too! We get to learn new blog and it’s different from what you normally cook. But I have to say I’m too lazy to join and I’m impressed with what you came up with! Looks so delicious!!!
i love butter chicken… wait, maybe you didn’t hear me. i LOVE butter chicken!! i’ve always wanted to make it at home but to be honest – indian cooking frightens me a little bit. there are so many flavours i have yet to understand so i find it a little intimidating. i do like your approach here though – maybe this will be what pushes me over the edge 🙂
Evelyne, I am so glad you got my site this month! Thank you so much for the lovely comments in this post and I am glad you liked my version of butter chicken.I love the idea of liquid smoke. And to add some peanut butter instead of the cashew paste- sounds very interesting!
Wow Evelyne, this chicken looks delicious, love the marinated and the sauce…
Thanks for this yummie recipe and hope you have a great week ahead 🙂
It looks amazing! I’ve always wanted to try and make butter chicken. I think the secret recipe club sounds like fun, but I can imagine how hard it would be to pick one recipe from someones blog. Nice choice! 🙂
How delish does that look? Wow, just amazing! I’ll have to save this b/c I love Indian food too. Great SRC pick!!
Looks yummy!
Looks great! I’m still hesitant to try Indian food but this looks like a nice easy one to start with.
Butter chicken is a favorite and your version looks easy and wonderful. Great SRC choice.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Interesting to see this. I bought chicken today and planned to make butter chicken this week, been a long while since I had it last. The recipe I am familiar with is different but I am sure they are all delicious
I love the taste of Indian food too. What a great experience to try this recipe out.