Butter Chicken Masala / Murgh Makhani

The other day I had extra chicken after making chicken fried rice, so the next thing that popped on my mind was butter chicken masala. Known for it's North Indian flavor, butter chicken doesn't necessarily have to accompany naan/roti/chapati. It goes best with rice too. Here it goes:

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken (cut into small pieces) - 1/4 kg
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp

For marinating the chicken:
Thick curd - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Tandoori color (optional) - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

For the gravy:
Tomato (pureed) - 3-4
Cashew nut (boiled with water, drained and blended into a paste) - 10 
Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Green chilly (finely chopped) - 1
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek leaves (hand crushed) - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Milk (at room temperature) - 1/2 cup
Cream - 2 tbsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Buter - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Mix chicken with the ingredients listed under 'For marinating the chicken' and leave aside for 2-3 hours.
2. Heat butter in a pan and add garlic paste. Saute for half a minute.
3. Add chilly, cumin powder, red chilli powder and mix well.
4. Add tomato puree and salt and saute well till the raw smell of the tomato goes.
5. Lower the flame. Add cashew nut paste, tomato ketchup, sugar and water and give it a good stir.
6. Meanwhile, heat oil in another pan and shallow cook the marinated chicken pieces. Drain and keep aside.
7. Now add the chicken pieces to the gravy once the gravy comes to boil. Cook for a minute.
8. Add milk and stir well for another minute before adding the cream and mix well.
9. Throw in the garam masala and fenugreek leaves and give a final stir.
10. Garnish with cream or fenugreek leaves or finely chopped coriander or even more cream! Your choice!☺

500+ views!!

Wow!! It feels so amazing that my blog finally hit 500+ views! Thanks to all those lovely people who stopped by purposely or accidentally! ;) This means a lot to me! Thank you so much :) 

Do you want to know what I cooked to celebrate this? Here it is:

Chicken fried rice and Butter chicken!
Bon appetit! :D

Mushroom Munchurian

I've always thought mushrooms tasted slimy until my cousin forced me to taste this at a restaurant a year back. I had it along with fried rice, which I think by far is the bestest combination for this Indo-Chinese dish.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms (cleaned and quartered) - 10-15
Cooking oil - for frying

For the batter:

Maida - 1 cup

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

Red chili powder - 1 tsp

Pepper (powdered) - 1 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Salt - to taste

For the sauce:

Garlic cloves (sliced thin) - 6-8

Ginger (finely chopped) - 1/2 inch

Green chillies (finely chopped) - 3-4

Spring onions (sliced thin) - 4-5

Tomato ketchup - 3 tbsp
Sweet chilli sauce - 3 tbsp
Soya sauce - 1-2 tbsp
Ajinomoto - ¼  tsp
Corn flour (dissolved in ½ cup water) - ½ tbsp

For garnishing:
Spring onion greens/coriander (finely chopped) - as required

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients mentioned under 'For the batter' in a bowl. Mix them well without any lumps. Make sure the batter is of dosa batter consistency.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Dip the mushrooms into the batter allowing it to coat well and slowly drop them one by one into the wok.
3. Deep fry the mushrooms in batches until they are crisp. Drain and keep them aside.

To prepare the sauce:

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok. Add garlic and saute till it turns golden brown.
2. Add ginger, green chillies, spring onions and saute for a minute or two.
3. Add tomato ketchup, sweet chilli sauce, soya sauce, ajinomoto and mix well.
4. Add the cornflour dissolved in water slowly in low flame and keep stirring till the sauce starts to thicken.
5. Allow the sauce to boil and remove from heat.

Serving:

1. Add the deep fried mushrooms to the sauce and mix well.
2. Serve garnished with finely chopped coriander or spring onion greens.

Paneer butter masala

Okay, here goes my first recipe. The first to have tried in fact. Paneer butter masala is a Punjab delicacy made out of paneer, onions, tomatoes and a variety other spices. 

Serves : 3-4

Ingredients:

Paneer/Indian cottage cheese (cut into cubes)  - 250 grams
Onion (blended) - 2 (Blend after boiling large pieces of onions in water for 10 minutes)
Tomato puree - 1 cup (Boil tomatoes in water for 10 minutes. Remove skin after boiling and then puree)

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp 
Cashew nuts (made into a paste) - 2 tbsp (Soak 2 tbsp of cashew nuts in hot water for 10 minutes and grind it to a paste)

For seasoning:
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cooking butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1
Cardamom - 2
Salt - To taste

For garnishing:
Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - as required

Method:

1. Mix butter and oil and heat it in a wide pan/kadai/karahi/wok. Add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and saute till they splutter.
2. Add onion paste and saute till they turn golden brown.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and saute. Make sure it doesn't stick to the pan or get burned.
4. Add cashew nut paste and saute till the raw smell goes.
5. Add tomato puree and all the spices (garam masala powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder). Cook till it leaves oil.
6. Meanwhile, take another pan and shallow fry the paneer cubes in 3 tsp of oil till they turn light brown.
7. Add this paneer to the cooked tomato mixture.
8. Add 1/2 cup of water and salt. Simmer and cook for a few minutes.
9. Garnish with fresh cream and coriander.

Serve with:

Naan or chapatis.