Ingredients (serves 4-5)
For the chicken:
Chicken thigh (boneless) 1.2 kg
Lemon juice 50 ml
Ginger garlic paste 50 gms
Salt
Chilli powder 1.5 tsp
Green cardamom powder 1 tsp
Curd (thick) 75 gms
Fresh cream 150 ml
For the sauce:
Fresh tomatoes 5 kg
Ghee
Garlic 75 gms
Green cardamom pods 10-15
Kashmiri chilli powder 3 tbsp
Salt
Roasted cashew paste 200 gms
Butter 100 gms
Honey
Cream 250 ml
Crushed fenugreek leaves 20-25 gms
Step one: For the meat, first marinate the chicken thighs in lemon juice, ginger garlic paste and salt, and allow to rest for at least an hour. Next, marinate in chilli powder, green cardamom powder, curd and fresh cream and leave to rest for a further 3-4 hours. Pre-heat an oven to 250˚C and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, basting occasionally.
Step two: For the sauce, boil the tomatoes along with garlic, Kashmiri chilli powder, cardamom pods and salt for 90 minutes to two hours, with a lid on.
‘Balancing the ingredients in the sauce is crucial. At Ushna, we have one person who’s trained for this job and this job only – he works the night shift every night to make the makhani gravy for the next day.’
Step three: Add the roasted cashew paste and butter, and then blend the tomatoes into a fine purée.
Step four: Cook the blended tomato purée for roughly an hour, until the required consistency is attained.
‘The basic logic of makhani is that the texture of the sauce has to be similar to butter. It’s not that the sauce should taste like butter. It just has to be smooth, it has to be fine.’
Step five: In a heavy-based pan, heat some ghee and add the cooked chicken and some fenugreek leaves. Straight after, add the tomato sauce and heat through, then season with salt and honey.
‘The taste of tomatoes differs from season to season. In summer, the taste is more sour, so we need to use more honey. In winter they’re sweeter, so we use less. Getting the balance right every time is the difficult part.’
Step six: Once the sauce has thickened, reduce the heat and add the fresh cream. Finish with crushed fenugreek leaves and green cardamom powder.
‘It’s important not to add the cream too early. It has to go in at the end, otherwise the heat will cause it to split.’
