Recipe Notes: Indian Butter Chicken

10 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019, also available online.

We don't eat out very often, preferring to home-cooked meals. When we eat out it is likely to be American food. Thus, we have limited experience with food from India or other countries. Cook's Illustrated seems to be featuring more recipes for dishes inspired by food from outside the U.S. I welcome this change, after all how many different recipes do you need for roast chicken? The recipe for Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani) seemed reasonably familiar with no ingredients unique to this one dish so it was worth trying.

I used the "for Two" version of the recipe that I found online. Preparation consisted of two distinct parts: creating the sauce and cooking the chicken. For the sauce, onion, garlic, ginger, and a serrano chile (ribs and seeds removed and discarded) were cooked in butter. When the aromatics had softened, spices—garam masala (a readily available spice blend), coriander, cumin, and pepper—were added and cooked for about three minutes. Water and tomato paste were whisked into the mixture followed with sugar and salt. Off heat, cream was added and the sauce processed with an immersion blender until smooth. Finally it was returned to the heat, brought to a simmer, and some additional butter added. Next, the chicken was cooked. One pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs were coated with plain European style yogurt. (The recipe specified plain Greek yogurt, but the supermarket had none.) These were cooked under the broiler, flipping half way through, for about 16 minutes. After resting, the chicken was cut into chunks and stirred into the warm sauce and finished with some chopped fresh cilantro. Total time was about 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this dish. We served it with rice and, like most ATK "for two" recipes, it was good for the two of us for two meals. The chicken was tender and juicy. The sauce was rich and smooth with a complex flavor but not too rich and not too spicy for our wimpy palates. It tastes and looks like an Indian dish and it is worth making again.