Butter-chicken-like Chicken (without butter)

This is Rohini's recipe. It is fairly close to restaurant "butter chicken." We've made it a few times now and it is consistently tasty and popular.

(Proportions approximate)

Ingredients:

4 Cut-up chicken thighs or 8 drumsticks (or equivalent)

2 cups dahi/whole milk yogurt

2 cups crushed tomatoes or tomato puree

A little vegetable oil (or ghee, change title) for sautéing

2 small onions or shallots, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

Thumb-length knob of ginger, grated

1 Tbsp whole cumin/jeera seeds

1 tsp dhania/coriander seeds

1 tsp saunf/fennel seeds

1 dried red pepper/red chili

¼ tsp fenugreek/methi seeds

2 Tbsp kasoori methi/dried fenugreek leaves

½ to 1 ½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

Preparation:

1)  Roast the jeera, dhania, saunf, methi seeds, and red chili (all of the dry spices except the kasoori methi) over a low flame for a few minutes until they are slightly darkened and smell really good.

2)  Let cool completely, then grind in a spice grinder.

3)  Sauté the chicken in batches in a tiny bit of oil or ghee (expect that the chicken will release its own fat, so it’s okay to be stingy). The chicken does not need to be cooked through, only slightly browned.

4)  Sauté the onions in the fat left behind. Add more oil only if there isn’t enough fat left behind.

5)  When the onions are tender, add the ginger and garlic and sauté for another couple minutes.

6)  Add the chicken, spice powder, salt, and sugar and toss over high heat.

7)  Add the tomatoes and yogurt, cover, and turn the heat down to simmer.

8)  Let simmer for 45-90 minutes.

9)  Uncover, and increase heat to medium to reduce, for about 20 minutes, stirring sometimes.

10)  Turn off heat, and just before serving add the kasoori methi, crushing it in with your fingers.

11)  Serve with rice or bread of some kind.

Variations:

1)  Use potatoes instead of chicken. Do everything the same except frying will require more fat, and reduce the simmering time to have the potatoes be not quite cooked. They’ll cooking during the reducing step.

2)  Use paneer instead of chicken. Skip the sautéing, and it should only cook in the sauce for a few minutes.