Butter Chicken
BUT-er CHIK-en (Hindi: Murgh Makhani — MOOR-gh MUK-kha-nee) — 'Murgh' means chicken and 'makhani' means buttery in Hindi.
Priceless
The most coveted butter chicken in the world — the kind restaurants insist they invented, and diners spend a lifetime chasing.
The story usually told is that in 1950s Delhi, a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Daryaganj first stirred leftover tandoori chicken into a butter-and-tomato gravy rather than waste it. Whether that's exactly how it happened, nobody can really say for certain — half of old Delhi will tell you their own family did it first, and the truth probably got lost somewhere along the way. What isn't in dispute is the result: the dish every other butter chicken in the world is still quietly trying to become.
What makes it taste like that
The creaminess comes from a slow marriage of butter and cream worked into a tomato base until it turns almost velvet. Char from the tandoor cuts through the richness, and a final whisper of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaf) adds a faintly bitter, smoky note that keeps every bite from tasting flat.
Chef's note
Never rush the tomato base — the color should turn deep brick-red before the cream ever goes in.