Butter chicken is perhaps the most popular food to venture out of the heart of the Indian subcontinent. It migrated along with Indian migrants and travelled around the world and adapted itself as it voyaged. Much like the life of the migrants, it retained some of its tradition while adapting to the place where it found its home. By doing so butter chicken has gained an epochal status in the modern food world. So much so that when you think about Indian food, butter chicken is the first thing that comes to mind.
India is more than butter chicken, but to the non-discerning palate, India is still so very much synonymous with butter chicken. The reason being it is a staple in almost all Indian restaurants around the world. Restaurants have helped in familiarizing this tomato based, red- orange, creamy butter chicken that the world has learnt to love. It is one of the most searched Indian dishes on the internet. Traditionally complemented with naans, it is now added to pastas, pizzas, pies, rolls, you name it, and you’ll find it adding flavors to them all. The crossovers with different cuisines have made Butter chicken even more popular in the modern food world. But did you know that this popular dish was virtually unknown up until the mid-twentieth century, even in the Indian subcontinent.
How it all started
Butter chicken was created after India’s independence in 1947. The man behind it all was Kundan Lal Gujral, one of India’s most dynamic restaurateurs. Born in undivided Punjab in erstwhile British India, he migrated his family to Delhi in 1947 at the time of India’s partition. But before that Gujral started as a chef in a small restaurant in Peshawar, Pakistan. Being an innovative chef, he experimented by skewering yogurt marinated chicken and sticking them into the tandoor (an underground clay oven) which was previously used only to make bread. This experiment led to the now famous dish, tandoori chicken. After moving to Delhi he set up a small roadside eatery or dhaba named Moti Mahal in Daryaganj, Delhi. He teamed up with a fellow refugee who came up with an above-ground tandoor oven that would work in a restaurant kitchen. Pieces of chicken were marinated in a secret spice mixture and yogurt, then roasted in the tandoor. To avoid the wastage of leftover tandoori chicken, Gujral again put his innovation to work and created butter chicken: pieces of roast chicken cooked in a sauce of tomato cream and butter. So there goes the story and evolution of butter chicken. It is very much a story of migration. Story of how food transcends borders, adapts and assimilates to its surroundings, at the same time creating its own entity and history.
The Immigrant Story
As an immigrant myself, butter chicken resonates so much with my own migrant story. That is why butter chicken is one of those dishes that I fuss about a lot. Sometimes you need to fuss about certain dishes in order to somewhat maintain their authentic flavor. You have to set aside the short cuts, like using canned tomatoes. I always prefer fresh tomatoes and to optimize the flavor, I roast some of the tomatoes. To cut the acidity of the tomatoes and to bring in some nutty flavor, I add cashew nut paste to the sauce.
The nearest thing to a tandoor oven in my Arizona home could be a ceramic Kamado style charcoal grill, also known as “The Green Egg”. I have had amazing results while making tandoori chicken in it. But lighting up “The Green Egg” and cooking in it could be time consuming and only a weekend thing to do. Luckily the same smoky, charred flavor of tandoori chicken can be attained in a traditional oven too. The secret is adding some mustard oil to the marinade and roasting the chicken on the top most rack of the oven at a high temperature. The roasted chicken is then dropped into the creamy and satin smooth tomato cream sauce and briefly simmered so that all the flavors get a few moments to meld in and bring out the classic flavor of butter chicken. A taste that is well balanced with the flavor of butter, cream, tomatoes, infused with just the right amount of freshly ground spices, something that reminds me of home.
Video
Recipe
Tandoori Roast Chicken
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
 | 3 lbs chicken, a combination of legs and thighs |
| ½ cup yogurt |
| 1 tsp garlic paste |
| 1 teaspoon ginger paste |
| 1 tablespoon lemon juice |
| 2 teaspoon deggi mirch chili powder |
| 1 teaspoon ground cumin powder |
| 1 teaspoon garam masala |
| 1 ½ tablespoon mustard oil |
| 1 teaspoon kosher salt |
| Instructions | |
|---|---|
| Wash and pat dry the chicken legs and thighs |
| Make slits into the chicken pieces |
| Combine and whisk garlic paste, ginger paste, deggi mirch powder, ground cumin, garam masala, lemon juice and yogurt in a large bowl |
| Add the chicken to the yogurt marinade |
| Add mustard oil and salt |
| Massage the marinade well into the meat |
| Marinate the chicken for at least an hour. If you are marinating for an hour, you can do it at room temperature. You can marinate the chicken for 8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. If you marinate the chicken in the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature before baking in the oven |
| Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. Put a wire rack on the sheet and spray the rack with cooking spray |
| Place the marinated chicken on the rack |
| Roast the chicken on the topmost rack of the oven for 40 minutes |
Makhani gravy
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 3 lbs tomatoes, about 7 medium sized |
| 5 garlic cloves |
| 3 inch piece of ginger |
| 5 green chilies |
| 1 tablespoon vegetable oil |
| 1 stick of butter |
| 2 inch stick cinnamon |
| 5 green cardamom |
| 1 tablespoon deggi mirch chili powder |
| 1 teaspoon ground cumin |
| 1 teaspoon kasoori methi (dried Fenugreek leaves) |
| 1 teaspoon garam masala powder |
| 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt |
| ⅔ cup heavy cream |
| ½ cup whole raw cashews |
| 1 cup hot water |
| Instructions | |
|---|---|
| Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F |
| Soak ½ cup cashew nuts in 1 cup of water for one hour |
| Cut five tomatoes and put them on a baking sheet along with 1 inch piece of ginger and 2 garlic cloves. Drizzle a tablespoon of vegetable oil and sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt on the vegetables |
| Roast the tomatoes, ginger and garlic for 40 minutes. Let them cool and peel off the skin. In a blender or a food processor, puree the tomatoes along with the ginger and garlic |
| Make a smooth paste of the cashew nuts in a blender or a food processor |
| Make a smooth paste of the remaining 3 cloves of garlic, 2 inch piece of ginger, and 5 green chilis |
| Make a puree of the remaining two fresh tomatoes in a blender or a food processor |
| Melt butter in a karahi or any large pot. Add the cinnamon and cardamom and let them toast for a few seconds, taking care not to burn |
| Add the ginger/chili/garlic paste and stir fry in medium low heat for about 3 minutes or until the raw smell of ginger/garlic gives way to an aromatic nutty smell |
| Add the fresh tomato puree and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes |
| Add roasted tomato puree and salt. Cook for a minute over medium high heat, constantly stirring the sauce |
| Add ⅓ cup cashew paste and continue cooking the sauce for 5 more minutes |
| Add 1 tablespoon deggi mirch chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder |
| Add 1 cup of hot water |
| Add the cream and give it a stir. Add a teaspoon of garam masala and crush the kasoori methi on the sauce and mix well |
| Add the roasted chicken to the sauce, mix well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes |
| The chicken should incorporate and nicely blend in the sauce |
| Serve with naan and/or rice |
Note: The key to delicious Indian sauces is freshly ground spices. I always prefer them over bottled ones. You can easily grind your spices using a coffee grinder.
If you make this The Story of Murgh Makhani Better Known as Butter Chicken, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you! And if you do make this recipe, please don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or your favorite social media platform! I would love to see pictures of your creations.
Inspiration: Dhabas or roadside eateries
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