makhani gravy - hotel style

Hotel makhani gravy in a bowl from above - closeup

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5 from 5 votes

makhani gravy - hotel style

This is how they make that butter chicken you've always wanted to recreate.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Course: ingredient

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: makhani gravy

Servings: cups

Calories: 700kcal

Author: romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

Step one ingredients

28 oz tomatoes - canned. Make sure there are no other flavours (basil etc). Just tomatoes, juices and salt.
2 tsp kashmiri chili powder - less if you want a milder gravy
1 tsp kosher salt 2/3 tsp table salt
1 small tej patta - Indian bay leaf
1 black cardamom whole. A small one. I hear people talk about monster black cardamom that are an inch long. I'm talking 1/2 inch here.
4 peppercorns
1 inch cassia stick
1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
1 green chili = jwala aka finger hot, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
3 tbsp neutral oil - vegetable, canola etc
1/2 cup whole cashews - optional. 1/2 cup is an approximate measure. Depends how much space there is between cashews. 80 grams is what I actually use.

Step two ingredients

1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp butter

Instructions

Step one

Put your tomatoes and the juices in the can through a food mill. If you don't have a foodmill try crushing them with your hands. The goal is to get rid of the stem of each tomato and to get things pretty smushed up. Smushed is a highly technical cooking term. It means smushed. They don't have to be completely pureed. Everything winds up in a blender later on.
If you don't want to smush, you can try cutting the cores out with a small knife and chopping the tomatoes. I've even heard a potato ricer works although I've never tried that myself.
Heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients over medium low heat.
Add the whole spices and let them crackle for about a minute. You want to see little bubbles forming around the spices.
Add the garlic ginger paste and cook until it stops sputtering. This should take under a minute.
Add the kashmiri chili and salt. Stir to combine and gently fry the chili powder/salt for 30-45 seconds. This is called blooming spices. It's important. Don't skip this step.
Add the crushed tomatoes, the green chili and the cashews if using them. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes.
Let cool slightly and puree until smooth (whole spices and all) in a blender. Your blender can handle the whole spices. Don't worry.
At this point you can stop and portion your makhani gravy (although technically it's not a makhani gravy at this point). That's what I do. Portion it out in one cup (for butter chicken, dal makhani) or half cup portions (rajma, chicken tikka masala, bhuna etc) and freeze it.
I turn it into makhani gravy when I cook the actual final curries. You can approach it either way. I just like the effect of fresh cream and butter on the final dish. If you do go the distance then just add a little extra cream and butter to taste when you make your curries.

Step two

If you prefer to make the complete makhani gravy up front return the pureed gravy to the saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer. Remove from heat. Mix in your butter and cream.
Done. Portion out as above or use immediately.

Notes

If you skipped straight to the recipe the cashews aren't really optional. I'm allergic to cashews. I tested this recipe with cashews and it's way better with them. Not even close really. If you can eat cashews don't leave them out.

Nutrition