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I love cooking Indian food at home. It doesn't usually compare to the rich, bold flavors of restaurant cooking, but it satisfies the craving. I'm always looking for new curry recipes, so I was excited to try this one for Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhini).


As we've found with all curries, they seem to taste better the next day once the flavors have a chance to fully meld. Unfortunately the dominant flavor was lemon. One lemon was way too much and overpowered the dish. I've cut it down to half a lemon in the recipe below. This was pretty good but not one of our favorites.

Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhini)
Prevention RD

Chicken Marinade:
1 pound chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
1 onion, diced
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced finely
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Butter Sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
2 cups canned tomato pureed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (garnish)

At least 24 hours before, place the chicken marinade ingredients in a large Ziploc bag, shake gently to toss together and close tightly. Place in the Ziploc bag in a large bowl. and place in refrigerator until ready to use

Remove the chicken from refrigerator, and heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter to the pan, and add the chicken marinade into the pan. Cook the chicken until no longer pink, about 7 to 8 minutes

In a small skillet, add a tablespoon of butter, cinnamon stick, and cloves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In the large Dutch oven, add the butter spice mixture, tomatoes, tomato paste and reduce heat to a slow simmer. The sauce will start to thicken, and let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in the honey, fenugreek leaves (if using), turmeric, 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and heavy cream and let it simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Taste for seasonings, add salt and pepper if needed.

Serve over basmati rice and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Want to see what other chicken dishes were made during the swap? Here is the link for the Chicken Recipe Swap Roundup.

I've been enjoying the recipe swap I've been participating in so much I decided to see if the women on the cooking board I frequent wanted to start one. The response was overwhelmingly positive so off we went. I hosted this week's swap and chose chicken as the theme. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for new and exciting chicken recipes, like this one for Indian Chicken Curry from J Bean Cuisine.


I knew SP would love this dish and it didn't disappoint. I served it with basmati rice and store-bought naan. The only change I made was to use dry spices for the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom since that's what I had on hand.

We've found that, for some reason, curry dishes tend to taste better the next day. We had the leftovers for lunch the next day and it was outstanding - nice depth of flavor and everything came together. Next time I'll make this dish the day before we want to eat and reheat before serving.

Chicken Curry
JBean Cuisine

Marinade:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp grated garlic
1 tsp grated green jalapeño
3 tsp garam masala
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp salt
3 lbs of chicken (thighs and breasts), chopped into bite-sized pieces

Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
4 black peppercorns
3 medium onions, diced
1 cup of water
1 medium tomato, diced
1.5 cups of plain tomato sauce

In a large glass or metal bowl, make a paste by mixing 3 tbsp of olive oil with the ginger, garlic, jalapeño, garam masala, thana jeeroo, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Add chicken pieces to the paste and mix very well, ensuring that each piece of chicken is coated with marinade. Cover and marinade in fridge for 2hrs.

In a large dutch oven, heat remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil for one minute over medium heat. Add the cassia sticks, cardamoms, cloves and black peppercorns. Allow spices to infuse the oil for 2–3 minutes. Add the chopped onions to the oil mixture and sauté until translucent (about 10 minutes). A bit of color on the onions is fine.

Add the marinated chicken and stir well. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to have the heat too high, as your chicken will stick.

After 20 minutes, add 1 cup of water to the chicken. Give a good stir and scrape any bits of flavour off the bottom of your pan. After a minute or so, add tomato sauce and diced tomato to the chicken curry.

Cover again, lower heat to a simmer and cook for an additional 20 – 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with basmati rice, naan, roti or paratha.