Butter Chicken Masala | Murgh Masala

Butter chicken Masala needs no introduction, right? It's one of the famous Indian curries around the world. It's creamy and delicious, tastes good with both rice and any rotis or flat breads. There are so many variations in this recipe and here i'm gonna share the simple home style version of butter chicken masala with basic ingredients. It's one of the most requested recipes for years now by friends and readers. I don't know why i took such a long time to share this simple recipe.Better late than never, right? So without further due, let's dive into the recipe. For any substitute ideas or doubts check out the below FAQs !! 

Why is my butter chicken not as orange as a restaurant?

The bright orange color comes from the red chili powder and tomatoes. 

1. Using kashmiri red chili powder gives bright orange color without increasing the spice level. 
2. Use well ripened tomatoes.
3. To be honest, most restaurants use food color, so don't compare home made with restaurant.

What do I substitute for cream?

Cream is for extra richness and mild sweetness in the curry. So,instead of cream, you can add a little bit of milk also. 

Any tips for beginners ?

• Don't try to achieve the bright color by adding more tomatoes, it turns the sauce more tangy.
• I like capsicum in my chicken curry, but it's totally optional in this recipe.
• Don't reduce the amount of butter. It gives silkiness, flavor and richness to the curry.

Butter Chicken Masala

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Chicken Butter Masala,Butter Chicken, Murgh Chicken Masala, Butter chicken Curry, Indian Chicken Curry Butter chicken Masala needs no introduction, right? It's one of the famous Indian curries around the world. It's creamy and delicious, tastes good with both rice and any rotis or flat breads.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Boneless Chicken - 1/2 lb

Onion -1/2

Capsicum - 1/2 

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Dried methi / fenugreek leaves - 1/2 tsp

Butter - 1 & 1/2 tbsp 

Cream - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

To grind

Tomato - 1 (large about 1/2 lb)

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garlic - 2 gloves

Cashews - 4 

Procedure

First clean the chicken and cut into bit size pieces . In a bowl, add chicken and the half of all spices(turmeric, red chili, coriander and garam masala powder) and salt (just enough for the chicken). Mix it well and let it marinate for 20 mins.In the mean time, boil the tomato in hot water for around 5 mins and then remove the skin and  put into the blender along with all other ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth puree.Chop the onions, capsicum into small cubes. Heat the pan with 1/2 tbsp of butter.Add the onions and capsicum along with pinch of salt and saute till they are soft and keep aside.In the same pan add 1/2 tbsp of butter and add the chicken, saute it in butter for around 5-7 mins and keep it aside. In the same pan add the tomato puree and all the spices(turmeric,red chili,coriander and garam masala powder) ,salt and 1/4 cup of water. Let it simmer until all the raw smell of the spices leaves.Then add the chicken and the remaining 1/2 tbsp of butter, cover the pan and let the chicken cook thoroughly. Finally add the onion, capsicum, dried methi & cream into the curry. Mix it well and switch off the flame.Delicious and creamy Butter Chicken Masala is ready. Serve it with rice or roti. We had it with chapathi.

For soft roti/chapati, check out my recipe here  and for more chicken and non veg recipes, check out here 

Notes:

•  The color of the curry greatly depends on the color of the tomato and chili powder. So use bright tomatoes and red chili powder for vibrant color.
• I have used chicken breast for this recipe.

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Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu, a delicious, spicy and tangy curry made with dry anchovies. Couple of months back, I bought a pack of anchovies from the local indian store here and tried this anchovies curry a couple of times and it's one of my favorite dry fish curry with all the country vegetables. 

But due to the current pandemic situation, i couldn't source all the vegetables needed for that curry, and i was not satisfied with the taste, so kept the pack aside for a while. Later one day when talking to Amma  casually mentioned about the dry anchovies that i had and not able to source all the vegetables.

Immediately she gave me the idea of making it in a slightly different way, as always the next day I gave itself a try to pair with uluntha soru. OMG, it was so delicious and even ST liked it so much given the fact that he is not a fan of both the ulunthu soru and karuvadu kuzhambu but his exact word during that lunch day was "Amirthama iruku". What else do I need, right?? 

So glad that I nailed the recipe !!! In our family, we have the habit of adding boiled eggs to the karuvadu kuzhambu whether it's served with plain white rice or ulunthu soru, so i'm also following the tradition and always serve boiled egg with dry fish curry. 

Back in school and college days, though i like the karuvadu kulambu so much, i didn't mentioned about it when that topic came mainly because most of the people gave you that weird look and ask "Nee athuellam sapduviya??/Do you eat such things?". 

Still wondering why karuvadu comes under disgusting food, may be because of this strong umami flavor and have heard people say the same reason over the years including the die heart non vegeterian lovers. But me, I like karuvadu especially for its flavor. If you like dry fish like me, then you must give a try on these curry !! Now let's check on how to make this super delicious nethili karuvadu kulambu

Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu | Dry Anchovies Curry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Dry Anchovies, Nethili Karuvadu, Karuvadu kulambu, Nethili kuzhambu, Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu,Dry Fish Curry, Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu, a delicious, spicy and tangy curry made with dry anchovies.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Nethili Karuvadu/ Dry Anchovies - 20 

Drumstick - 1/2

Garlic - 8  cloves

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp 

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 2 

Garlic pods - 3 cloves

Cumin seed- 1 tsp

Procedure

First soak the dry anchovies in warm water for 30 minutes and clean it well. Soak the tamarind in water for 30 mins. Cut the drumstick into 2 inch length and slit it vertically. Peal the garlic and keep it ready. In a mixie jar, add the ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth paste.

Heat the pan with oil, temper the fenugreek seeds and then add the garlic and curry leaves. Saute the garlic in the oil for 2-3 mins, then add the drumsticks and saute them for couple of mins.

Next add the tomatoes and spices(turmeric,red chili and coriander powder) and roast it in the oil for 30 secs.Take care to not burn the spices.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the kadai immediately. Add the required salt for the curry(Keep in mind that some dry anchovies might have more salt in it, so under do salt here and if needed add more at the end. )

Add the coconut paste and adjust the consistency of the curry by adding more water. Bring into boil and let it simmer for 8-10 mins or until the oil floats on the top.

Once the raw smell leaves from the curry, add the dry anchovies and mix it well.

Keep them covered and let the dry anchovies cook well. 

Tasty Nethili Karuvadu Kulambu is ready.  Serve it with boiled rice.

Notes:

• As i have already mentioned, depends on the salt in the dry anchovies, you can add more or less salt in the curry. Since i had used this packet of dry anchovies earlier, i knew  how much salt is needed, so add it in the curry initially or else i would cook dry anchovies first and after given the taste test only if needed add salt. 
• Even without drumstick, you can make this curry
• In addition to the garlic, you can add some pearl onions too in the curry.

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Parotta Chicken Salna | Restaurant Style Chicken Salna | NonVeg Salna

Chicken Salna, one of the famous and delicious curry  from South India and it tastes best when paired with parotta, so it's generally known as Parotta Salna. Almost a week back, i had shared the home made parotta and this chicken salna pictures on social media and got rave appreciation from the readers for the texture of parotta and many have asked the recipe for the chicken salna, that's when i realized, chicken salna recipe is still not on my blog. 

Though I make this salna regularly for our dinner, it's hard to get decent pictures without daylight, that's the only reason for not posting the recipe this long. So this weekend I was determined to make parotta & chicken salna for lunch(why not, right?), took the pictures and finally i'm here with the recipe for the yummy chicken salna.

Though we eat non veg at home regularly, we rarely order it in restaurants when dining out /take out especially for another cuisine.We indians use a lot of complex flavorings in our meat cooking like this salna(truth to be told, right?), maybe other cuisines(asian/middle east) also do that. But the spices used in Indian meat cooking seem a lot when compared to western cooking.

I used to say that the chicken from the local restaurants here in North America smell too much like chicken, later only realized how else it's supposed to smell, right? In indian cooking, the other flavoring totally dominates the chicken or any meat flavor, since i'm so used to  that way of eating while growing up, it's hard to eat chicken with simple flavor.I can't imagine eating the cooked meat simply with salt & pepper. Hope you get what i'm trying to convey here. 

I still remember that my Aachi(paternal grandma) used to add drumstick in non veg cooking like mutton kulambu, dry fish curry & so on and used to say that  drumstick make the curry so flavorful, guess whatever the flavor we like the most, we used to incorporate them in everything we cook.  

Ok, now coming back to this  salna recipe, by looking at the long list of ingredient, don't think it's too complicated to make, to ease the making process , i have split the ingredient list and mentioned separately under "Saute & Grind", so you may see the repeated ingredients in the list. 

Like any non veg curry, this chicken salna tastes best when using meat with bone, so tried to use chicken with bone for great flavor. To get that parotta stall style salna taste, kalpaasi and mint are very important, so don't skip that. Without further delay let's check out the recipe for the delicious chicken salna.  

Parotta Chicken Salna | Restaurant Chicken Salna

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Parotta Salna, Chicken Salna, Restaurant style chicken salna, Salna,Nonveg Salna,Hotel Salna,Parotta nonveg Salna,Tamilnadu Chicken Salna,Chicken Curry, Chicken Gravy,Kozhi Kulambu Chicken Salna, one of the famous and delicious curry from South India and it's tastes best when paired with parotta, so it's generally known as Parotta Salna.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Chicken - 1/2 lb / 200gms
Onion -1/2(small)
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cloves - 2 
Cardamom - 1 
Bay leaf -1 
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Saute & grind 
Onion(small) - 1/2 (thinly sliced)
Tomato(small) - 1(roughly chopped)
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cloves - 2 
Star anise - small piece
Cardamom - 1 
Kalpaasi - small pieces
Mint leaves - a handful
Oil -1 tsp
To grind 
Coconut - 1/3 cup
Cashew - 5
Fennel seed - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

First take all the ingredients listed under "Saute & grind" are ready. Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil, add cinnamon,cloves,cardamom,star anise and kalpaasi and saute them in the oil for 30 secs or until it's fragrant. Next add the onions and saute till they are transparent.

Next add the 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste and saute until it's aromatic and raw smell leaves, then add the tomatoes and mint leaves and saute till the tomatoes are soft.

Switch off the flame and let it cool a bit and put it in the blender/mixie jar and grind them into smooth paste and keep it aside.

Next heat the pressure cooker with 1 tbsp of oil, add the cinnamon,cloves,cardamom & bay leaf,  saute them in the oil for 30 secs or until it's fragrant.Add the thinly sliced onions and curry leaves and cook till they are transparent, then add the ginger garlic paste.

Saute till the raw leaves of ginger garlic paste leaves, next add the cleaned chicken & saute till in the oil for 1 min.

Next add the grounded paste and the spices(turmeric, chili and coriander powder), give a good mix and add enough water. 

Cover the pressure cooker with lid and cook it for 3 whistles or until the chicken is soft. In the mean, grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into fine paste and keep it ready.

Once the pressure released from the pressure cooker automatically, add the coconut paste and salt. If needed add more water and brings into boil.

Finally add few coriander leaves and let it cook until the oil floats on the top. 

Tasty Chicken Salna is ready. Serve it with parotta ,chapati or even idli and dosa. 

Related : How to make Pichu Potta Chicken Curry 

Notes:

• Don't skip the mint leaves and kalpaasi, those are the major flavor to recreate the restaurant style chicken salna
• The Salna would be mildly spicy for the given measurements, add more or less as per your liking.
• Add more or less of water as per the consistency you like.
  

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Kothu Kari | Mutton Kheema Curry | Non Veg Recipes

Kothu Kari, a delicious and easy to make side dish with minced mutton. We have been making this for decades in our home and it's another one of the signature dish of my grandma. In this recipe, the flavors and spices are subtle and it's looks more like egg podimas, so we usually serve this with kara kulambu or sambar, those combinations are amazingly well. If you're wondering how the mutton would taste with sambar or with veg curry, you can have it with rasam, thats also a another great choice, but trust me, with sambar or kara kulambu it tastes so good. 
Coming to the recipe, i have the pictures of this recipe in my draft for a while. Last month when amma had prepared this kothu kari, i clicked pictures to post here. But after with all the packing and making travel plans, i couldn't find time (read as not interested :-)) to sit and write the recipe. As i mentioned in my previous post about our moving plan to new place, after 5+ months of pampering at India, now we're moved to Canada. Things are getting slowly settled and it may take another couple of weeks to post here regularly. Mean time, give it a try on this simple and delicious kothu kari recipe. 

Kothu Kari | Mutton Kheema Curry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Mutton Kheema - 100 gms
Shallots - 20 to 25
Green chili - 2 
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cloves - 2 
Cardamom - 1
Salt - to taste
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Coriander leaves - few

Procedure

First clean the mutton kheema in the running water for 3 times, drain the water and keep it aside. Peel the shallots.Chop the shallots and green chilies into small pieces. Heat a kadai with oil, add cinnamon,cloves & cardamom into it, let it saute for 30 secs.Then add the shallots,green chili, saute till the shallots became translucent then add the mutton, ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. Saute it in the oil for 2 mins, then add 1/2 cup of water and cover cook the mutton.Once the mutton is almost done, add the salt and garam masala and let it cook until all the moisture evaporates. Next add the grated coconut, curry and coriander leaves. Give a good mix, let it be in flame for 2 more mins and then switch off the flame.Tasty Mutton Kheema Curry/Kothu Kari is ready to serve. We had it with kara kulambu and kootu.

Notes:

• Unlike other non veg dishes, it has very mild spices only. 
• Sesame oil gives great flavor to this curry.
• You can serve this as side dish along with sambar, rasam & kara kulambu too.
  

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Pichu Potta Chicken Curry | Dry Chicken Masala | Non Veg Recipe

Pichu Potta Chicken Curry, a scrumptious and flavorful chicken dry masala. In tamil "Pichu Potta" means roughly shredded and this way of making dry chicken masala is popular in road side restaurant and also it's believed to be originated from the city,Salem in Tamilnadu.

I have been started making this chicken curry for the past few months and we love it so much. Here in US, the boneless chicken breast we usually buy from the store is not really flavorful and it's definitely not good for south Indian based curries, personally we like the flavor of chicken with bones in the curries. 

So i had been looking for some spicy indian style chicken curry with boneless meat, that's when i came across this recipe from homecooking show, immediately i tried it with very few variations that suits to our taste and to my surprise it turned out so good on the first attempt itself, since then it's been a regular dish in my kitchen. It tastes so good with simple rice and rasam and i guess that you can serve this as appetizers too. Now let's see how to make this delicious chicken curry.

Pichu Potta Chicken Curry | Dry Chicken Masala

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pichu Potta Chicken Curry, Pichu Potta Chicken, Chicken dry masala, Chicken Curry, Kozhi Kari, Pichu Potta Chicken Curry, a scrumptious and flavorful chicken dry masala. In tamil "Pichu Potta" means roughly shredded and this way of making dry chicken masala is popular in road side restaurant.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken - 1 lb
Onion - 2(medium size)
Tomato - 2 
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Coriander leaves - a handful 
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon -1 inch piece
Cloves - 6
Cardamom - 2
Salt - to taste

Procedure

First let's cook the chicken.Clean the chicken and keep it ready. Add the chicken pieces into the pressure cooker along with 1/8 tsp of turmeric powder.

Next add 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste, salt (just enough for the chicken) and 1/2 cup of water.

Mix it all well and cook it for 3-4 whistle in medium flame. Let the chicken cool a bit.

Now for the masala, slice the onions thinly,chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Heat a kadai with oil,add the whole spices(cinnamon,cloves and cardamom) and saute it in the oil for 30 sec.Then add the onions and curry leaves with a pinch of salt. 

Saute the onions till it becomes slightly brown in color, next add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes off and then add the tomatoes.

Add the spices(turmeric,red chili powder) & salt for the masala,mix it well. Cook till the tomatoes are soft. In the mean time, shred the chicken into small pieces.

Add the chicken into the masala,mix it well and then add the water left out from the cooked chicken into it.

Let it cook until all the water evaporates and then add the pepper powder.

Mix it well and cook till you see the oil on the edges. Switch off the flame and finally add the chopped coriander leaves.

Delicious Pichi Potta Chicken Curry is ready. Serve it with steamed rice.

Notes:

• If you want less spicy, then skip the red chili powder and use only the pepper powder.
• Coconut oil gives wonderful flavor to this chicken curry.
• Take your time and cook the onions till it becomes slightly brown, that gives the maximum flavor and taste to this curry.
  

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