The other day I decided to break out my box of Jaswant’s Kitchen Spices and try a new recipe from the box. I decided to try…Butter Chicken! If you don’t know, Jaswant’s Kitchen is a Toronto based company that creates natural, authentic Indian spice blends along with easy to follow recipes available free on their site. Last time I made Curry Shrimp!

Murgh Makhani, more commonly known as Butter Chicken, is a delicious dish of grilled chicken simmered in a rich buttery tomato sauce that’s very popular during the holidays.

Grilled Chicken

• 1 kg chicken breasts
  
• ¾ cup plain yoghurt
• 4 tsp Jaswant’s Kitchen Tandoori Masala
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp white vinegar 
• 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
• 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
• 2  tsp salt
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp Jaswant’s Kitchen Garam Masala

Sauce

• 1 kg ripe tomatoes (I used good quality canned tomatoes)
• ¾ cup whipping cream
• 120 g unsalted butter
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 green chili (minced)
• 1 tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
• ¼ cup cilantro (chopped for garnish) 

Butter Chicken Sauce
Sauce can be made a day in advance. Remove seeds from tomatoes and chop coarsely. Cook tomatoes on medium heat for 5 minutes in a heavy pot.  Cover and lower heat to simmer. When tomatoes are soft use a hand blender to puree.  Add butter, salt, pepper and green chili. When butter has melted add the cream and mix.

I found this recipe pretty easy to follow. At the end, it looked just like Butter Chicken from an Indian restaurant! Or at least, I like to think so. the spice blends have a nice deep flavour. We really liked it! I also went the extra level and tried to make naan. Yum. Here’s how I made the chicken!

Instructions
Remove skin and wash chicken with cold running water and pat dry with paper towel.  Make deep cuts in chicken. Rub salt and lemon juice all over and into the cuts.

In a bowl combine yoghurt, Jaswant’s Kitchen Tandoori Masala, vinegar, ginger, garlic and 1 tbsp oil. Add chicken to bowl making sure all pieces are covered with mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours to help the flavors penetrate the chicken.

(Note: I didn’t do this and the flavour was still amazing.)

Bake on middle rack of oven at 450°F on a greased pan. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn pieces and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Check for doneness.  Sprinkle Jaswant’s Kitchen Garam Masala and lemon juice on all pieces. Brush with 1 tbsp oil and broil for 3-4 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Heat sauce and combine with chicken pieces. Simmer for 5-6 minutes. Add ½ of the chopped cilantro. Add more salt and green chili to taste.  Garnish with rest of the cilantro. That’s it!

Check out www.jaswantskitchen.com for spices and recipes!