#163 India's Murgh Makhani/Butter Chicken

I first tried butter chicken at my client's restaurant. I really liked it and since then I have been looking for a simple recipe to use. Now I found it! 

In this dish, the chicken is cooked in mild curry sauce. It is known to be developed by the Moti Mahal Restaurant in Delhi, India in the 1950's. The chicken is flavorful because it is marinated for several hours in the fridge before cooking. The house smelled like delicious curry and I am getting hungry just thinking about it! :)

My first butter chicken is not that thick because I didn't use cashew paste or any flours for thickening. I used yogurt and cream. I had to omit peanuts, because I am very sensitive to it. It is very interesting how I have developed sensitivity to it after many years of not ingesting it due to my daughter's peanut and tree nut allergies. 

After much anticipation, this butter chicken recipe turned out to be so good, it is super creamy..rich in flavor and uber simple to prepare. I ate it with Quinoa, but this dish goes perfect with basmati or brown rice.

Although I listed "organic" ingredients which just means I used organic by choice, you don't have to buy and use the organic variety for the ingredients. I'm sure it will still taste as fantastic as this dish!

MURGH MAKHANI or INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 full-fat organic Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons organic lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons turmeric powder

2 tablespoons garam masala

2 tablespoons ground cumin

3 pounds organic chicken thighs, on the 

1/4 pound unsalted organic butter

4 tablespoons canola oil

2 medium-size organic yellow onions, diced

4 cloves organic garlic, minced

3 tablespoons organic fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 cinnamon stick

2 medium sized organic tomatoes

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

salt to taste

2/3 cup organic chicken stock

1 1/2 cups organic cream

1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons ground almonds

1/2 bunch cilantro leaves

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large steel or glass bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala and cumin. Mix thoroughly. Add the chicken, mix well, until fully coated with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. You can make this ahead and cook the next day too, do not refrigerate for more than a day.
2. In a large pan over medium heat, melt the butter in the oil until it starts to foam. 
3. Add onions, and cook until translucent. 
4. Add the garlic, ginger and cumin seeds.
5. Add the cinnamon stick, tomatoes, jalapeños, and salt and let cook for about 10  minutes.
6. Add the chicken and brown, then add the marinade to the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add chicken stock and bring to boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes.
8. Add the tomato paste and stir. Simmer until chicken is cooked, about 15 minutes.
9. Add the almonds.
10. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
11. Enjoy!

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#162 Three-Ingredient Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake

 

I saw this from Ochikeron's You Tube channel. I made this several times now and I am too excited to make this dessert again! It only has three ingredients and is gluten and grain-free!

If you are beginner cook, it is not a simple dessert to make, but it is not too difficult, especially the second time. Tip: make sure that you follow the instructions to prevent it from cracking and browning. The result is a delicious cheese cake that you and your family will love!

THREE-INGREDIENT JAPANESE COTTON CHEESE CAKE:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 white chocolate baking chips

• 6 large eggs, at room temperature

• 1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven in 340 F.
2. In a large microwave oven safe bowl, melt chocolates in microwave oven in 20-second increments until melted.
3. Separate egg white and yolk, place the egg white in a large steel bowl, the yolk in a small bowl.
4. Once chocolate is melted, add the cream cheese and yolk, mix well until smooth. Set aside.
5. Whip egg white until it forms a soft peak or meringue, you know when it is ready if you can turn your bowl upside down and the egg white sticks to the bowl.
6. Add the meringue to the chocolate-egg mixture, in batches, until it is combined. 
7. Line a 4-inch baking pan with parchment paper in the bottom, to prevent it from sticking and on the side-to prevent cracking (this is very important, see Oicheron's video on how to)
8. Pour the mixture in the lined baking pan. Drop it gently twice to let air bubbles out.
9. In a separate, bigger baking pan, add water, and then place the pan with the cake mixture on top. (if you are not sure how to do this, see Oicheron's video on youtube)
10. Bake at 340 F for 15 minutes.
11. Lower temperature to 320 F and bake for another 15 minutes.
12. Turn the oven off, and leave the cake in the oven for another 15 minutes then remove from oven.
13. Let cool or chill, enjoy!

     I'm so happy I learned how to make a delicious grain and gluten free dessert! I hope you enjoy this one too!

#161 Chicken Tikka Masala

"Chicken tikka masala is a dish of roasted chunks of chicken (chicken tikka) in a spicy sauce. The sauce is usually creamy, spiced and orange-coloured."

I enjoyed making this dish. It turned out great! I needed to be a little careful handling the kitchen, I used disposable gloves  since I had to thread it onto the skewers before broiling it in the oven. I was too lazy to fire up the grill! Well actually, I didn't want to grill the chicken, I do not enjoy working with the grill, too much smoke gets into my eyes and heat on my face all the time..and so I decided to turn to the oven. I can get very creative in order to make things happen, as you can see in the photos below, I used a glass baking dish to hold the skewers and catch the juice.  Suddenly the dreadful task of grilling became easy, thanks to the oven! When you start making this dish, you will need a lot of patience, just know that in the end, you will have an out-of-this-world yummy dish! I was easy on the cayenne and the fresh jalapeño peppers, but that's just because I am not a fan of too much heat in my food anymore. You can add more if you want firecrackers in your mouth with every bite, I'm pretty sure it will be spectacular.

Here are a few fun facts I found on the internet about this delicious dish, with links provided to the source:

In 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared that "Chicken Tikka Masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences." He went on to explain that "Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy."

The claim that Chicken Tikka Masala is a British "National dish," however met with both acclamation and skeptical opposition.

A 2012 survey of 2,000 people in the United Kingdom claimed that it is that country's second most popular foreign dish to cook, after Chinese stir fry.

Source HERE 

Ready to make your own?   

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA 

Ingredients 

Marinade:

• 1 cup organic yogurt (Greek)

• 1 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons ground pepper

• 1 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

• 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1/8 cayenne pepper

• 3 boneless organic chicken breasts

• bamboo skewers

Sauce:

• 1 block of organic butter

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (I used 1/4)

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 1 can tomato sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream

• salt to taste

Garnish:

• fresh cilantro, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large glass bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients, and the chicken, mix thoroughly. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Thread chicken onto skewers
3. Broil chicken in the oven, or grill--oil the grate to make sure the chicken does not stick onto it. I broiled it around 5 minutes, or until you achieve that "grilled or broiled look--see pic above". 
4. Once chicken is cool, remove the chicken from skewers.
5. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium low heat,  add garlic until brown and jalapeño.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients, simmer on low heat.
7. Add the grilled chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes.
8. Check salt and heat, add more according to your taste. 
9. Enjoy!

  

That was lovely, so much fun learning to cook a new favorite! (^.^)