Butter Chicken

Wash and cut chicken into bite size cubes. Marinate chicken pieces with yogurt, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, orange red food color and salt.  At least 3 to 4 hours marination is a must, overnight marination and refrigeration would be perfect for this recipe. Thread them onto bamboo skewers and place them on an oven proof tray. Preheat oven to 400 F and bake chicken for 30 minutes. Blanch the almonds and then soak them together with cashews in half & half milk. Blend them to form a thick liquid and keep aside.

Meanwhile lets work on the gravy. Heat butter and oil in a pan and toast the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, bay leaves, cloves, cardamon and cinnamon. Fry onions, green chillies and kasturi methi till they turn dark brown and then add ginger garlic paste and fry for a while. Add blanched tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes (5 to 6 nos) and cook till they turn soft and mushy. Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder, cover and cook the gravy until the oil separates.  Check on the chicken, when it looks dark and lightly crispy on the outside, remove them from skewers and add to the gravy. Add the half and half milk, ground cashew almond, honey and orange red food colour. Mix well to combine. Cover again and cook for another 5 minutes on low flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Naan.