Butter Chicken Masala (Slow cooker recipe included)

Category: Chicken recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  + marination time
Cooking Time: 20 - 25 mins stove top or around 4 hrs of slow cooking
Servings: About 2 to 4 Servings

Butter Chicken Gravy

Since I wont eat Chicken, the Chicken recipes make a rare appearance in my blog:) This butter chicken masala is a creamy mildly spiced gravy perfect with rotis, tortillas or basmati rice. In this recipe I didnt used any cream but only the cashews. If we want, we can reduce the cashews and add cream at the end after switching off the gravy.

I have prepared this recipe many times both in pan as well as in slow cooker. Its not a completely slow cooker recipe since we need to do sautening and tempering in the pan before transfering it into the slow cooker. But slow cooked version yields a very soft chicken in a creamy gravy.  Regarding marination, I had tried marinating for just 30 mins and upto 24 hours. The longer the marination, the chicken becomes soft and absorbs the spices well:)

The ingredient list may look long but its an easy recipe:) Once we have the marinated chicken and the ground masala, we can whip up this butter chicken in less than 30 mins. (The colour of the gravy depends on the type of chilly powder we used so it may differ)

Ingredients:

For Marination:

• Boneless Chicken pieces - Around 1 lb, cut into bite sized pieces 
• Red chilly powder or paprika - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Yogurt - 3 tbsp
• Salt - little

To Saute & Grind:

• Butter or oil - 3/4 tbsp
• Onion - 2 nos, sliced
• Fresh ripe Tomatoes - 3 nos, chopped
• Raw unsalted cashews - around 1/4 cup
• Coriander seeds powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilly powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp (I used 1 tsp of Paprika) (adjust as per taste)
• Garam Masala - 3/4 tsp (adjust as per taste)
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of sugar

For Tempering:

• Butter - 1 to 2 tbsp
• Bay leaf - 1 no
• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Green cardamom seeds - few or 1 to 2 cardamom pods
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

For Garnishing:

• Coriander leaves / Cilantro - 2 to 3 stalks finely chopped
• Crushed Kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) -a generous pinch

Method:

1. Marination: In a wide bowl, add the ingredients mentioned under marination except chicken and mix well. Then add the cleaned chicken pieces and refrigerate for atleast 2 hours or for overnight. Yogurt will make the chicken pieces tender and juicy
   
2. In a pan, add 3/4 tbsp of butter or any cooking oil and add the sliced onions and saute in medium flame for 3 to 4 mins. We can add a pinch of salt and sugar and saute well (Salt makes the onion to cook faster and a pinch of sugar gives a nice caramelized taste)
   
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute until it gets cooked and become mushy
   
4. Now add the masala powders (Coriander, red chilly and garam masala) and give a quick mix
   
5. Add in the cashews and saute for 2 mins
   
6. Allow to cool down and grind it to a fine paste with enough water
   
7. Heat 1 to 2 tbsp of butter in the cooking pan, then add the spices for tempering (bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom) and saute for few secs
   
8. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute in a low flame for one minute until the raw smell leaves
   
9. Now add the marinated chicken pieces and saute in medium flame for 3 to 4 mins until it looks bit dry
   
10. Add the ground onion tomato puree, mix well
    
11. Adjust the consistency of the gravy by adding around 1/2 cup of water (It should not be very thin)
12. Check for salt and spices; adjust according to your taste
    
13. If we are cooking on stove top, we can reduce the flame to medium and cook covered until the chicken gets well cooked (may be in around 10 to 20 mins)
14. In Slow cooker: If we are using slow cooker, after adjusting the spices we can transfer it into the vessel slow cooker and allow to cook for 4 to 5 hours
    
     
15. I usually bring it to a boil on the stove top (just to speed up) and then transfer to the slow cooker and cook in high for around 3 hrs until the chicken gets nicely cooked. While using slow cooker, we need to add very less amount of water
    
16. Once the chicken gets cooked, switch off 
    
17. And then add the crushed kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves and mix well
    
18. If we need, we can add around 2 to 3 tbsp of cream now
19. Garnish with finely chopped cilatro
20. Serve hot with rotis, tortillas or with Steamed Basmati rice!