I love butter chicken, or murg mahani, whenever I go into an Indian restaurant. Yes, I know that it isn't true Indian food. I am, however, Chinese and my taste buds are sadly weak when it comes to spicy food. Murg makhani is one of the few things I can eat without breaking a sweat.
I was first introduced to butter chicken when I went to an Indian restaurant while vacationing in Canada. I can't remember the city now ... it was either Quebec or Toronto or Montreal .. but either way I picked it off the menu and I was delighted by the dish.
For the uninitiated, butter chicken is basically a roasted chicken in a sauce made from butter, tomato sauce, and cream. The flavors meld together wonderfully and the taste is pure, indulgent bliss.
I had been wanting to make murg makhani for some time now but never dragged myself over to the Indian grocery store to buy the requisite garam masala. All of the other ingredients are pretty easy to find in a normal grocery store except that particular spice. I finally got around to go going to my local Indian grocery store this past weekend and now I'm all set to begin to make my butter chicken.
You need to marinate the chicken overnight. Marinating it overnight helps to tenderize the chicken. If you have a meat tenderizer you can use that too to help infuse the flavors.
I made the butter chicken and .. well, it didn't turn out as I had hoped. The curry itself was way too thick. The recipe called for 1 cup of cashew butter which was way too much. Unfortunately I didn't realize how thick the 1 cup of cashew butter would make the curry until too late. The sauce was very thick and there was no way you could eat it. I had to dilute the curry just to thin it out .. and when it was thinned out the flavor was lost. :( At the end, the taste was just ok. It could have been much better were it not for the watered down curry.
I might try to make it again one day .. but right now I am of the opinion that murg makhani may just be better off eaten in a restaurant!
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