Charcoal Smoked Butter Chicken – It’s Finger-Licking Good!

Butter Chicken is a popular Indian dish. It can be made mild or spicy as per your taste. For this week’s Whip-it-up-Wednesdays I made butter chicken with a twist of smoked charcoal flavor in it. It is rich, creamy, and finger-licking good! It is best enjoyed with naan or rice. Don’t get daunted by the long recipe – it’s totally worth it!

Preparation Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 100 minutes
Yield: Six servings

Ingredients:

Marination

1. One pound boneless chicken (cleaned/washed and cut into pieces)
2. Half cup plain yogurt
3. Two teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
4. Half teaspoon red chili powder
5. One teaspoon lemon juice
6. One teaspoon garam masala powder
7. Half teaspoon salt
8. Two teaspoons ghee or butter

Curry Mixture

1. Four big tomatoes (chopped)
2. One medium-size onion (chopped)
3. Nine garlic cloves
4. Half cup cashews
5. One Two-inch-long ginger
6. Five green cardamoms
7. Two bay leaves
8. One three-inch-long cinnamon stick
9. One black cardamom
10. Four cloves
11. Half teaspoon red chili powder
12. Half teaspoon salt
13. Two tablespoons butter

Curry Cooking

1. Two tablespoons butter
2. Two tablespoon cream
3. Half teaspoon Kasuri methi
4. One cup of water

Smoke Infusion

1. A piece of charcoal
2. Half teaspoon ghee

Instructions

Marination

1. In a bowl mix chicken and all ingredients (listed for marination)
2. Let chicken marinate for two hours

Chicken and Infuse Smoke

1. Take a pan over medium flame and add Two tablespoon ghee
2. One ghee is hot, add marinated chicken
3. Stir fry the chicken until they are golden brown in color
4. Once the chicken is cooked switch off the stove and move the chicken around the corner making space in the middle
5. Now put a small steel bowl in the middle of the pan
6. Heat a piece of charcoal directly over stove flame until it starts glowing
7. Put the glowing charcoal using a tong in a steel bowl and immediately drop a half teaspoon of ghee over charcoal
8. Quickly cover the pan with its lid for a minimum of fifteen minutes.

Curry Mixture

1. Take a pan over medium flame and add one and a half cup of water and all the ingredients (listed for curry mixture)
2. Once it starts boiling, turn the flame low and cover the lid
3. Cook for twenty-five to thirty minutes, keep stirring in between
4. Once tomatoes & onions are soft, switch off the stove
5. Keep aside to let it cool
6. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then put the mixture in a blender to make a smooth paste
7. Strain the blended smooth paste into a bowl using a strainer to get a creamy textured paste

Curry Cooking

1. Take a pan over medium flame and add butter in it
2. Once butter is hot, add strained creamy curry paste in it
3. Cook for fifteen minutes, keep stirring in between
4. Add water and cook for five minutes
5. Add smoked chicken and cook for five minutes
6. Add salt if required
7. Add Kasuri methi and cook for two minutes
8. Add cream and cook for two to four minutes and switch off the stove

Tips

1. If you like spicy food then you can add more red chili powder
2. Don’t use oil instead of butter/ ghee, it gives the chicken amazing taste and nice texture to the curry