Cooking: Makhani Chicken

One of my friends on a message board posted about how he made Makhani Chicken. Say that name outloud.. doesn't it just sound intruiging? Well, it did to me. He posted the recipe for me to try so tonight I decided to do just that. We had to stop by our local Indian market to pick up some of the ingrediants such as fenugreek powder, garam masala and plain yogurt. While we were there we also bought some frozen naan, veggies & rice to make for a quicker dinner. Hey, we were hungry alright? Don't judge me!

Anyway, after going to our local grocery store to pick up the rest of the ingrediants, I got home and quickly got to prepping. I wasn't able to find ginger & garlic paste, so I just grated my own using a microplane.



Instead of giving a summary of how I changed and did things, I'll revise the recipe in case any of you are interested in making this.

Makhani Chicken

Ingrediants:

2 skinless, bonless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
1 yellow onion halved and sliced
3 tbsp butter
1 lemon juiced
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 ½ tbsp garam masala*
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin*
1 bay leaf
½ cup plain yogurt*
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered cashews*
2 cups crushed tomato
¼ tsp cayenne
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Pinch ground fenugreek*
4 tbsp honey
1 bunch cilantro rough chopped

Directions:**

1) Melt butter over medium low heat (don't burn it!). Once the butter stops foaming, add onions and saute until softened.



2) Add the ginger & garlic paste along with the bay leaf. Saute until fragrant.



3) Add the chicken and let that cook until you don't see anymore pink.

4)Combine the garam masala, cumin, chili powder & cayenne pepper and add to the onions and chicken. Saute that until fragrant.



4) When the onions & chicken are well coated with the spices, add the crushed tomato and combine with everything.



5) Combine the heavy cream & yogurt into the mixture. Let everything simmer for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.



6) Stir in the honey & lemon juice. Let simmer for another 2 minutes.

7) Add cilantro but leave some for garnish.



*all ingrediants can be found at Indian grocery markets. The cumin you could probably find at the regular grocery store but it's cheaper. I had to buy whole cashews and use my food processor to grind them up into a powder.

**you can throw all the ingrediants together after the chicken has cooked enough so it doesn't show any pink but I wanted to let the spices, cashews, ginger & garlic paste "toast" a bit so their flavors came out more.

This was a fantastic recipe.. a little spicy with so many layers of flavors. It's a rich dish which pairs well with some cumin scented rice, naan & Indian style veggies. Thanks m3cha :D