Spice Pots Butter Chicken

Apr 24, 2024

chicken curry in a bowl garnished with corianer

Bhuna Butter Chicken

I used to make this recipe all the time (way before Spice Pots) and have now adapted this to work with Spice Pots. This is a Spice Pots invention and not something that you will find in India! This is a great chicken curry recipe for entertaining as you can do the majority of the preparation the day before and just finish it off on the day. This curry is baked in the oven so it is a little dryer than most of our curry recipes and so we recommend serving along side mango chutney or raita to add the moisture element. We have used the Bhuna blend in this recipe but you could of course use it with any of our blends.

Serves 4-6

4cm piece of ginger, grated
6 garlic cloves, crushed
150ml natural yoghurt
6 or 7 teaspoons Bhuna Blend (about half the pot)
400g tin chopped tomatoes (or fresh ones)
1.5 teaspoons of salt
1kg chicken breasts or thigh fillets (boneless), cut into largish chunks
Oil for frying
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Coriander to garnish
4 tbsp double cream (optional)

Mix together the ginger, garlic, yoghurt, Spice Pot spices, tomatoes and salt. Add the chicken and coat thoroughly. Cover and marinate, overnight or for at least 2 hours.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion until soft and browning. Add the chicken mixture and fry for 2 minutes (I used to leave out this step and it still works fine). Mix in the coriander and cream and tip into a shallow baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour at 180 C. If the top is browning too quickly, cover with tinfoil. If not browned enough, put under the grill for a couple of minutes at the end of cooking time. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serve with rice or roti and lashings of mango chutney or raita.

Notes on Butter Chicken
Butter chicken, or Murgh Makhni is a Mogul dish that has many versions. The butter in the title refers to ghee, a type of clarified butter. As we have not used ghee in the recipe, it's not an authentic representation of a butter chicken recipe.