Photo: goanfishcurryrice2 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Punjab · Dinner

Butter Chicken + Naan

Tandoor-charred chicken simmered in a velvety tomato-cream sauce perfumed with kasuri methi; the dish that put Punjab on the world map. Paired with pillowy butter-brushed naan, it is the definitive Punjab dinner.

🧺 Ingredients

• Chicken thighs, bone-in: 800g
• Whole milk yoghurt: 120g
• Kashmiri red chilli powder: 2 tsp
• Ginger-garlic paste: 2 tbsp
• Lemon juice: 1 tbsp
• Mustard oil: 2 tbsp
• Tomatoes, blanched and puréed: 600g
• Butter: 60g
• Fresh cream: 100ml
• Onion, sliced: 150g
• Cashew paste: 40g
• Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves): 1 tbsp
• Garam masala: 1 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt: to taste
• Charcoal: 1 small piece (for dhungar smoke)

👩‍🍳 How to make Butter Chicken + Naan

1. Combine yoghurt, 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, mustard oil, and salt.
2. Coat chicken thoroughly.
3. Refrigerate minimum 4 hours.
4. Grill or broil chicken at 220°C until edges are charred and juices run clear.
5. Set aside.
6. Optional dhungar: place hot charcoal in a small steel bowl inside the pan, add a drop of ghee, cover tightly for 2 minutes for smoky aroma.
7. Melt butter in a heavy pan.
8. Add onions; cook until golden, 8 min.
9. Add remaining ginger-garlic paste; cook 2 min.
10. Add tomato purée; simmer until oil separates, 10 min.
11. Add cashew paste; stir 3 min until sauce thickens and turns deep orange.
12. Add charred chicken, cream, sugar, garam masala, and kasuri methi (crush between palms first).
13. Simmer gently; sauce should coat the back of a spoon.
14. Adjust salt.
15. Stretch leavened dough into teardrops, cook on a tawa at high heat until bubbles form, then blister under broiler.
16. Brush with butter immediately.

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