Know your tomato

Pushpesh Pant on how tamatar gosht, an interesting variation with the gravy of butter chicken, has a unique taste

BUTTER chicken is perhaps as famous as tandoori murg. Much before Pankaj Mishra found it in Ludhiana, there were dozens of chefs claiming parenthood. Any food historian worth his salt knows that the dish was invented by many a nameless dhabhawala simultaneously who wanted to utilise the leftover chicken. The incorporation of butter in a generous measure created an aura of richness and copious quantities of tomatoes imparted the colour that successfully disguised the scars received in the tandoor.

The sweet and sour taste of the curry could be enjoyed with roti and rice and two could easily share a plate. The thigh and breast were ‘softened’, even though temporarily, when they were simmered in sauce.

The problem is that whenever you order butter chicken at a roadside kiosk, there is always a lurking suspicion that one is being served a recycled chicken. Even when you cook it at home, it seems to be an admission of inadequacy — the guests feel that the cook has taken the easy way out.

There are, of course, other versions of butter chicken like the one served at the New Alamgir in Lucknow. It avoids tomatoes like plague and is reminiscent of chicken ala Kiev — sinful butter just oozes out even if you just caress the chicken breast. The hue is creamy white and the flavour subtle, peppery and cardamom laced.

The butter chicken gravy taste has become an all-time favourite. Recently, we were treated to an interesting variation in a Delhi restaurant.

What was offered was spicy tamatar gosht but all we could taste was the butter chicken. Not that we are complaining. It seemed to ensure a two-in-one delight — the bite of mutton, including the pleasures of chaap and nalli draped in the good old makhni gravy.

Mutton 1 kg

Refined oil 125 gm

Butter 200 gm

Curd 100 gm

Onions 250 gm

Garlic 50 gm

Ginger 50 gm

Tomatoes 500 gm

Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tbs

Salt to taste

Bay leaf 1 large

Kasuri methi 1 large pinch

Green chillies three

Chef’s corner

Method

Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add the meat and sear to seal in the juices on high heat. Then brown on medium heat, remove and keep aside. Add half the butter to the oil and melt it. Slice/chop the onions fine and fry them till light brown. Add garlic and ginger pastes, fry for a minute, add tomato puree with the spice powders and cook till the fat separates. Add the browned meat, fry for two more minutes. Beat the curd, remove the meat from the heat, to cool a little, replace on stove and gently stir in the curd. Cook on low heat till the curd is incorporated and its raw smell is gone. Add half a cup of water and put on pressure for three minutes. Let the pressure be reduced on its own.

Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and lightly fry the slit green chillies in it. Pour this tempering on the mutton, crush the kasuri methi and sprinkle all over, stir well and serve.


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