In Scranton’s Wegmans supermarket I found some packaged garlic naan, rare fresh okra and some “organic” chicken thighs. Sounded Indian to me. But boy howdy! I also saw one single, “organic” veal chop for $19.95! The American consumer purchases are apparently conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs; whether it’s for hormoned, over-sugared, GMO foods or what is considered “healthy” food that only the rich can afford.
I thought of making butter chicken masala but I was feeling a little lazy and pivoted to butter chicken makhani; easier and as delicious. You can marinate the chicken overnight or for 2-4 hours and, while the chicken is marinating, make the gravy.
If you don’t have ghee, you can substitute butter but I think the ghee gives it the Indian flavor.
Butter Chicken Makhani
Marinade
4 chicken thighs, skinned, boned and cut into chunks
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Indian chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame or mustard oil
2 tbsp ghee for browning the chicken after marinating
Gravy
2 tbsp ghee
1 large onion, chopped
2 green cardamom pods
2 cloves
4 red peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 can dice tomatoes
1 tsp Indian chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground fenugreek leaves
Heavy cream
Mix all the marinade ingredients together (not the ghee), add the chicken pieces, cover and marinate for 2-4 hours or overnight. Melt the 2 tbsp of ghee in a frying pan and brown the chicken. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Melt 2 tbsp ghee in a stove top casserole, add the onion and cook until it begins to brown. Add the cardamom, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon stick, sauteing for a few minutes. Stir in the ginger and garlic pastes, the tomatoes, the chilli powder, salt, sugar and fenugreek leaves, bring to a boil, then simmer slow for about 30 minutes. Add the chicken and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Before serving, swirl the top with the cream.
I know an Indian restaurant in Montparnasse that’d give you a job cooking dishes like that – but it’s a bit of a commute from Sens, let alone Scranton 😉
Outside of India, the best place to eat Indian food is England. Along with India’s treasures, the British looted some of their best cooks 😀
Not as much as it used to be. A lot of the restaurants have disappeared due to competition from supermarket ready meals and many of the others have adapted their food to me more like supermarket ready meals – yuck!
Yuck.
Supermarkets have a lot to answer for.
Too much sad news lately. Very sorry to read this, Mad. We have 4 excellent Indian restaurants here in Asheville, NC, & a Nepalese restaurant too. How lucky are we?
Very! Don’t tell big business about it 😉
I agree there. Not as many good ones left. Either excellent but very very expensive or cheap mediocre ones.
Ooh I’m always on the lookout for new curry recipes and this sounds like a good one. Very lucky in Bexhill to have at least 4 excellent Indian restaurants…each slightly different!
We have one or two outstanding Indian restaurants in Dublin. Sadly, most are as MD suggests above.