Azure - West Sussex Lifestyle May - Jun 2024

BUTTER
CHICKEN
MASALA
The classic Butter Chicken from
North India, Chicken Makhani, is
a bit different from as well as a bit
more subtle than this. The Butter
Chicken Masala of Bombay is so
well known it does not even have
any other Indian term for it. Ideally
use the cooked Chicken Tikka
recipe from my book, but you
could instead marinate 4 cubed
chicken breasts in 4 heaped
tablespoons of thick plain yoghurt
with 1 tablespoon of tandoori
paste and then grill it like the tikka.
Butter Chicken in Bombay was
made famous by the one and only
Delhi Durbar restaurant. Please do
not think of calories when cooking
this dish as the word does not
exist here! Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
40g/3 tbsp butter
2tsp chilli powder
1tsp caster sugar
½ tsp salt
200g tomato puree
juice of ½ lime
5–7.5 cm (2–3 in) piece of fresh
ginger, grated or finely chopped
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds,
toasted and ground
2–3 green chillies, finely chopped
(plus 1–2 extra split and added for
flavour, optional)
200ml double cream
Chicken Tikka (see recipe intro)
1 heaped tbsp chopped coriander
MEHTOD
Heat the butter in a kadai, wok
or large deep frying pan until it
foams. Remove from the heat and
add the chilli powder, sugar and
salt, stir well and put back onto
the heat, stirring and cooking for a
minute or so, then add the tomato
pure and lime juice and cook for
2 minutes over a low heat, stirring
well.
Add the ginger, half the cumin and
the chopped chillies and cook
over a low heat until the butter
separates slightly. Add the split
chillies, if using, and the cream
and simmer for 6–8 minutes.
Discard the split chillies.
Add the cooked chicken tikka
meat, and heat through until
piping hot. Taste and re-season,
if necessary. Sprinkle with the
chopped coriander and the
remaining toasted ground cumin.
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