Chicken Malai Curry

My family loves our chicken curry dishes. 

This is a recipe from Thanksgiving dinner, which my uncle prepared. It's similar to chicken makhani but the preparation and some ingredients are different. It's not too spicy, although you can add chilies if you want.

Chicken Malai Curry
serves 6, Prep: 25 min., Cook: 35 min.


Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of chicken breast cuts in cubes
• 2 cans of tomato paste
• 2 cups of plain yogurt
• 3 table spoon of ginger root paste
• 5 gloves of garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoon of turmeric powder
• 3 tablespoon of cumin powder
• 3 tablespoon of coriander powder
• 2 tablespoon of anisette seeds
• 4 bay leaves
• 4/5 green cardamoms finely crushed in blender with shells and seeds.
• ¼ gallon of light cream
• Salt
• Sugar
• 2 Cups of Cashew nuts
• Cooking oil

Directions:

1. In a large container, place the chicken cubes, add yogurt, little salt and turmeric powder. Mix them well and marinate overnight or 6 to 8 hours.
   
2. Soak the cashew nuts in water for 3 to 4 hours.
3. Heat oil in a large heavy based saucepan on high heat first. Add marinated chicken to the heated oil and start stirring.  Turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it simmer for a while for about 25 to 35 minutes stirring occasionally.
   
4. In a blender, blend rest of the ingredients, except sugar, cream, bay leaves and cardamoms powder. Add the blended mixture to the chicken in the saucepan and stir thoroughly. After a while add the cream and bay leaves and mixes all the ingredients together by stirring.  Cook on slow heat for a while until the chicken pieces get tender. Add salt and sugar as required and add half of blended cardamoms powder. Place the cooked chicken in a serving dish and sprinkle rest of the blended cardamoms powder for garnishing.

Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)

My roommate and I started International Wednesdays - which means we're going to try and make an international cuisine each week.

The first week - I decided to make some Indian food - cause hey, I'm learning right - and practice makes perfect. But really I had a craving for Chicken Makhani, which is also known as Butter Chicken or Chicken Makhanwala (if you go to Indian restaurants). It's a similar texture and look to Chicken Tikha Masala, but in this dish the chicken used is not marinated in Tandoori seasoning.
Tanduri:
Indian term for food cooked in a clay oven (tandoor). The meat is marinated with aromatic herbs and spices before cooking. (source: Answers.com)

Instead the chicken in chicken makhani is marinated in yogurt and light spices so that it's super tender and buttery.
Then a tomato and cream based sauce is added to the cooked chicken with spices such as cumin, corriander and onions and garlic.

This time - I was being a bit lazy and decided to buy the sauce ready made, but marinated the chicken myself and added tomatoes and onions for better texture. I also marinated the chicken in yogurt, oil, salt, pepper and yes tandoori seasoning, cause i wanted to have a bit more flavor.

So here's my recipe for Semi-Homemade Chicken Makhani;
serves 4, Prep: 20 min, Cook: 25 min.

• 2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (If large stick with two)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. pepper
• 2 tsp. of tandoori seasoning (you can find this in most grocery stores, buy powder if possible, but paste will do (just use less)
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 regular tomato
• 1 cup of plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp. of oil
• 1 jar of Patak's Butter Chicken Cooking Sauce
•  cilantro for taste
•   sliced almonds

1. Marinate chicken: cut raw chicken into 1/2 inch cubes and throw in a Ziploc freezer bag. Add salt, pepper, tandoori seasoning, 2 tbsp.oil and yogurt. Close bag. Using hands mix marinade on all pieces of chicken.
2. Try to marinate overnight or atleast 1 hour.
3. 
4. Dice tomatoes and onions. Add to a pot with 1 tbsp. of oil. Saute until onions are translucent over medium heat. Add chicken and all of the marinade into the pot and cook until chicken gets brown over medium heat.
5. Add the jar of Patak's Butter Chicken Cooking Sauce and get the liquid to start boiling. Place temp. on low and cover. Allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until chicken is tender.
6. When finished place in a bowl and garnish with almond slices and cilantro.

Serve with Basmati rice or Naan (A flat, leavened bread of northwest India, made of white flour and baked in a tandoor.)


Serves 4 to 6.