Butter Chicken with Rice

This has to be the BEST Butter Chicken I ever made or tasted!!! I got the recipe from Neelam Batra's 1,000 Indian Recipes... Although It wasn't a butter chicken recipe, it was just a recipe for her Butter-Cream Sauce with Fresh Tomatos. I adapted it just a bit to suit me. I grilled some chicken breasts, basting them with butter, making sure they were good and charred in a couple spots, and then I simmered them in this sauce. The result was SO amazing!!! I served it with some simple cumin rice and a potato salad I also got from the same book... I will share the potato salad recipe in my next post :)

For Butter-Cream Sauce -

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 inch cinnamon
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 black cardamom pods, crushed lightly
  • 7 green cardamom pods, crushed lightly
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, chopped
  • 1 - 3 fresh green chilies (I put them in whole and let them disintigrate in the sauce)
  • 5 large tomatos -or- 2 cans, 15 ounce each tomato sauce (This is my preferred method)
  • 1 teaspoon ground Paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • salt to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ground, dried fenugreek leaves
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • Cilantro for garnish
Method:
  1. Heat butter in large saucepan over medium heat and cook the cinnamon, bay leaves, black and green cardamom pods, cloves, garlic and ginger until light brown, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add the tomato's or tomato sauce, paprika, nutmeg, water and green chilies and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until volume reduces by half, 20 - 25 minutes. (At this time, I added my chicken and simmered until it was a little thicker.)
  3. Add the salt and fenugreek and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the cream and simmer over low heat another 5 minutes to blend flavors. Garnish with Cilantro and Serve!
Grilled chicken, waiting to be simmered in that amazing sauce!

The rice was simply flavored with 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds and 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, which was first sauteed in a tablespoon of peanut oil... then 2 cups soaked rice was added along with 2 3/4 cups water.

~"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." - Albert Einstein~



54 comments:

Sri said...

I get to taste it soon :D...Oh yeah

Unknown said...

I agree with you..Must be the BEST buutter chicken ever..Picture says it all..Mouthwatering..Will have to try this over the weekend..

Sujatha said...

looks delicious! Your description itself is mouthwatering for me :) can't wait to try this..

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Wow!.. mouthwatering.. Looks delicious

Bharathy said...

My cheeks are hurting,now!..lovely dish!...my altime fav :)

Swati said...

The gravy looks so yummy Meeso...I'll use paneer instead and am sure it would still taste heavenly!!

Ranjani said...

You got the perfect colored gravy!! Waay to go:)

Sum Raj said...

wht a perfect combo..butter chicken mu fav dish..a small treat for u in my blog..collect it soon :)

Laavanya said...

Aah you are back from you break? That butter sauce sounds and looks amazing - i ought to try this with paneer.

Cham said...

Gosh that looks perfect Meeso! Grilling is better than broiling or saute the chicken, i got to try ur way :)

maimoona said...

looks yummy!

Yasmeen said...

It sure looks like one of the best butter chickens i have ever seen meeso.I love the presentation.

anudivya said...

You cook great Indian food, better than me being an Indian... they look so good! :)

Dori said...

~ Oh, Sri... Very soon :)

~ Thanks, Maheswari, Sujatha, Valarmathi, & Bharathy, :)

~ Hi Swati, I'm sure it would taste awesome with paneer... I want to try it with different vegetables myself :)

~ Thanks Ranjani & Suma!

~ Hi Laavanya, You should try it sometime... The sauce would go great with anything :)

~ Cham, I hope you try it... and the grilled chicken made such a great flavor!

~ Thanks Maimoona & Yasmeen :)

Dori said...

~ :)) Thanks, Divya... Such a nice thing to say :)

test it comm said...

Butter chicken is one of my favorites and this looks really good!

Arabic Bites said...

looks delicious meeso,definitely bookmarking this one ;)


zainab :)

Pete said...

Looks spicy and good. Yummy

Unknown said...

Lovely Butter Chicken... the color and all looks perfect....
If you have time check out my version of it in my blog!

Srivalli said...

meeso..that surely has come out so well..looks great...

anudivya said...

Meeso, I would love to hear about how you got interested in Indian food?
I was dreading cooking International food until my friends taught me how to make them, and I ended loving all their recipes. But that first step is always hard, I think...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow, it looks delicious! I'm so hungry now after reading this. Haha.

Anjum said...

hi.,lovely butter chicken its very tempting nice pic

MAG said...

I like your blog a lot!!! Delicious recipes!!! Thanks for adding me to your list, I did so too :D

Mona said...

Meeso, your butter chicken looks irresistble!

Dori said...

~ Thanks, Kevin!

~ Thanks, Zainab... I hope you try it :)

~ Hi Pete, I'm glad you stopped by! Thanks for the comment :)

~ Thanks, Cinnamon... I will surely check out your version :)

~ Thanks, Srivalli!

~ Hi, Divya... I was first introduced to it eight years ago at work... a coworker brought in some leftovers and shared it with me... after that, I was hooked! I started learning to make it myself and have been since. The first step was hard as I didn't know anything and I had to learn EVERYTHING! Thanks for stopping by :)

~ Thanks Sindhu, Anjum, by mag, & Mona :)

ST said...

Messo butter chicken sounds awesome and splendid..

Unknown said...

God Meeso this is hard to resist,I can nothing but literally I am salivating.Too good

Dori said...

~ Thanks Sireesha & pearlsofeast :)

A_and_N said...

Hey look whos back! Nice to see you again :) I am a vegetarian so I'll use the grave and substitute for chicken :)

Deepthi Shankar said...

hey .. First time here .. I see that you have a liking for Indian food .. Good to see that you've made them so well. Since Iam a vegetarian, Cant comment on Butter Chicken, Love your zest for food .. keep going girl

lubnakarim06 said...

Mouth watering. My all time favourite recipe.

Viji said...

I think you love chicken. My friend was asking for a butter chicken recipe. Will share this with him. Thanks. Viji

lubnakarim06 said...

Some sweet suprise waiting for u in my blog.

Dori said...

~ a_and_n, this sauce can be used with vegetables and it tastes awesome! Thanks for stopping by :)

~ Hi Vegetable Platter, Yes... I LOVE Indian food! I'm glad you stopped by and hope you come again... Thanks for the nice comment :)

~ Kitchen, Thanks for stopping by :)

~ Hi Viji, It's an easy recipe but tastes so good... Thanks for stopping by :)

delhibelle said...

gorgeous!!

Dori said...

~ Thanks, Rashmi :)

Cynthia said...

Meeso that is perfection!

Rachel said...

You sure got me craving for some of that butter chiciken..love that fiery colour

Dori said...

~ Wow, Cynthia... Such a compliment means a LOT to me coming from you :) Thanks so much!!!

~ Thanks, Rachel!

Srikitchen said...

u have an award in my blog!

Viji said...

Meeso, wanted to update you. I showed this recipe to my friends but they requested me to help in preparing. Though we are pure vegetarians, I don't hesitate to cook sometimes chicken(only) for my friends in their house(!). I prepared my own tomato sauce and marinated the chichen with lemon and garlic salt. Fried in 1 tsp butter on a skillet and added to the gravy. I grinded the onion too after frying. I used my own garam masala powder. I could not taste it! but the verdict was "Simply superb" and I got more orders now!. Tks for sharing this recipe. Without any color or preservatives it was so natural and they told me, now they can't go back to the restaurants :) Viji

Deeba PAB said...

Ooooh that sounds like something I've gotta try & SOON Doris! How yummy can butter chicken get? I love your recipe at every stage!

anudivya said...

Girl! I have been waiting for your next post after seeing that butter chicken... What else are you gonna make us drool about?

Dori said...

~ Thanks so much, Srilekha :)

~ Wow, Viji, I'm so glad and honored you tried it and that everyone liked it!!! I want to try the sauce with some veggies next time to make it vegetarian. Thanks for letting me know :)

~ Thanks, Deeba!!!

~ Lol, Thanks Divya! I am working on making something this weekend... Just haven't decided what to make yet :)

Noor said...

Oh I want to try this bc I love butter chicken. I ordered some the other night and it sure was just like tandoori chicken nothing like butter, hmm I was sad :(. I van not wait to get to my kicthen again and out of this hotel to start cooking normal again, and I am trying this.

Dori said...

~ Hi, Noor! I would also be anxious to get to cooking again! I hope you try it and that it tastes like how you are expecting :) Thanks for stopping by!

Vani said...

Lovely, lovely looking butter chicken that is!! The stew with feta cheese sounds yum & easy to make too.

Padma said...

Butter chicken looks so yummy and colorful. It is one of my favorite chicken dishes too, I don;t get tired ordering the same thing everytime I visit any Indian Restaurant.

Hmm would love to have one bite from your plate! I wish you were nearby NJ, so that we can taste each other's food.

Dori said...

~ Thanks, Vani :)

~ Hi Padma... My daughter is the same way with butter chicken, and I ask her if she ever wants anything else! If I was nearby NJ, I would be asking you to cook for me :)

Shreya said...

what an amazing picture, butter chicken and rice looks so tempting. Love the recipe, and will try soon. been long since I visited this space, have to catch up soon...:-) Saag Gosht looks so yum!love the eggrolls too..

Dori said...

~ Thanks so much, Shreya!

Arlette said...

Looks awesome..
this is something I always wanted to try my hands on, and was looking for a good recipe...
thanks for sharing..I bookmarked it.