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

Garam Masala Powder

Category: Home made Powder
Preparation Time: 10 to 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 5 to 8 mins
Servings: yields around 1 cup

Home made Garam Masala

Garam masala: (garam ("hot") and masala (a mixture of spices)) is a blend of ground spices common in India and other South Asian cuisines. It is used alone or with other seasonings. The word garam refers to "heating the body" in the Ayurvedic sense of the word, as these spices are believed to elevate body temperature in Ayurvedic medicine. (Source: Wikipedia)

The ingredients of garam masala differs regionally and also as per personal taste. I used to prepare garam masala at home since the store bought ones are on spicier side. So this one is a mild garam masala with just the basic ingredients.

Ingredients: 

• Coriander seeds- 1 cup
• Shahi Jeera - 1 tbsp
• Pepper -1 tbsp
• Cloves -1 tbsp
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Bay leaf - 1 medum sized
• Cardamom seeds - 1 tsp or 5 to 6 pods
• Cinnamon, 1 inch sticks - 4 nos

Method:

1. Dry Roast the coriander seeds in low heat for 5 mins
2. Then add the remaining ingredients and roast for 2 mins in very low heat
   
3. Switch off and allow to cool down
   
4. Grind to a fine powder (Sieve and powder it again). We can use the coarse grits for making masala tea:)
   
5. Store it in an airtight container to retain the freshness