Ingredients

For Marination:

• 500g boneless chicken, cut into small cubes/stripes
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/3 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• Salt to taste

For the masala:

• 1 medium sized onion, roughly cut
• 5 garlic cloves
• 5 tomatoes, roughly cut
• 10 cashews
• 1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1/3 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/3 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional)
• 1 tbsp kasuri methi
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp double cream/fresh cream
• Salt to taste
• 1 1/2- 2 cup hot water

Method

For marination:

Add ginger garlic paste, Kashmiri chilli powder, garam masala, lemon juice and salt to taste. Mix well.

Add the chicken cubes. Mix and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil and butter in a pan.

Add the marinated chicken pieces and fry for 7-8 mins. Do not over-cook the chicken as it turn hard.

Remove the chicken from pan an keep aside.

For the masala:

In the same pan, add 1 more tbsp butter.

Add the roughly cut onion, garlic cloves, tomatoes, cashews, Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, tomato paste and salt. (Tomato paste gives a bright orange colour to the masala and it is completely optional.)

Add 1 cup hot water. Cover and cook until the tomatoes are mushy.

Remove from heat and allow to cool down. Once cooled, add to the mixer grinder and make a fine puree.(If you have a hand blender you can directly blend the mix without waiting to cool down.)

Strain the puree to the same pan. Add 1/2 – 1 cup hot water depending upon the consistency.

Add the fried chicken pieces. Cook for 5 minutes in medium heat. Add salt if required.

Add kasuri methi and fresh/double cream.

Remove from heat and serve warm with Naan, chapati or rice.

Notes

You can skip the fresh cream if you don’t have it. Instead you can take 15 cashews to get a creamy butter chicken.

Make sure that you fry the chicken until it’s just cooked. Over frying makes the chicken rough which isn’t good for this recipe.

Feel free to adjust the amount of oil and butter.

Straining the gravy is also optional.