Butter chicken or murgh makhani is a dish, originating in India, of chicken in a mildly spiced tomato sauce. This is one of the ultimate curry dishes. The secret is to marinate the chicken in the chicken tikka paste overnight before combining it with the rich, indulgent makhani sauce.
I’ve seen ‘skinny’ or diet versions of this on various Thermomix bloggers websites. I’m going to take a stand on this and say don’t go there. If you translate murgh makhani it literally translates to chicken butter. If the key ingredients weren’t chicken or butter, then it wouldn’t be called that. If you don’t want to indulge in these, then choose another dish. Something like chicken tikka masala which uses tomatoes as the base, not butter and cream. There is absolutely no point of even attempting this dish if you are not going to stay true to the dish.
Seriously though, if the ingredients give you cause for concern or you are following a particular diet, then use the tikka paste and make chicken tikka masala which uses tomatoes as a base instead of cream and butter. It’s another Punjabi dish and one of our family favourites.
N.b. I have a separate post for the tikka paste on the website.
