Murgh Makhani with Naan

Murgh Makhani is also known as butter chicken, Murgh mahal, Chicken makhani and Indian butter chicken. Naan is the Indian bread to go with it. Since in some regions of India there is traditionally no cutlery, but rather is eaten with the fingers, bread is an essential side dish. In this case, butter is ghee - Indian clarified butter. However, there are clear differences in taste whether you use purchased clarified butter or homemade. In the clarified butter you buy, there are, by law, additives that prevent it from being made into butter again. These additions do not have to be declared. cookable offers a whole range of recipes for making clarified butter.

2nd marinade: Wash the chicken breasts, dry them and cut them into bite-sized cubes. Finely chop half of the fresh coriander as well as the ginger and garlic and stir into the yogurt. The tandoori paste too. Make sure that all pieces are covered with the marinade on all sides. When everything is well mixed, put in a vessel with a closed lid in the refrigerator for at least 4 - 6 hours. Or overnight.

Vorteig for the Naan: Dissolve 1 pinch of dry yeast (or 1 gr.) In 100 ml of cold water and add 100 gr. Stir in flour type 550. Let it start for one hour at room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Best pararlell with the chicken breasts.

The next day, weigh the milk for the main dough. Start with 60 grams of milk and only add the remaining 40 grams if the dough is too dry. Due to the pre-dough and the additional yoghurt, the moisture of the dough is always very difficult to calculate. Add the dry yeast to the 60 g milk and stir. Mix in the flour and in the food processor on the lowest setting. Add the pre-dough, yoghurt and salt. If the dough is still too dry, add the rest of the milk. Leave the garlic and butter aside. Mix with the machine for 5 minutes. Knead the dough for another 5 minutes on the next higher level. The dough should be damp and a little sticky. Let rise in the warm for 1 - 1.5 hours until it has increased its volume. Stretch and fold every half an hour.

Form eight balls of roughly equal size from well-risen yeast dough and roll them with the corrugated wood on a floured work surface to form oval flat cakes that are not too thin. Let rise again for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 230 ° C. If a baking stone or pizza stone is available, heat for at least 45 minutes.

Ideally, bake the flatbreads on the pizza stone. There should be room for 3 - 4 flat cakes on the stone. After 5 minutes, a pan lifter can be used to achieve an even color. If you omit this step, one side is just a little lighter. The total baking time is 10 - 12 minutes and the flatbreads should be browned on the edge. Then take it out and brush with the reserved ghee-garlic mixture. Do this until all the flatbreads are baked.

Sear the chicken breasts with the marinade in portions in a pan with clarified butter (ghee) for 5 minutes. Salt and take out again.

Heat more clarified butter in the pan and toss the spices in the fat until they are fragrant. Then fry the onions until translucent and only then add the ginger and fry for about 10 minutes until the onion browns slightly. Just before the end of the roasting time, add the garlic. It shouldn't turn brown or it will turn bitter. Add the canned tomatoes and the ghee / butter. Season to taste with salt and simmer gently for 20 minutes. At the end, stir in the creme fraiche or sour cream and cook briefly.

Put the chicken breast cubes in the sauce. Bring to the boil and continue cooking until the chicken parts are through. Finally season with salt. If it is not spicy enough, you can add tandoori paste again. Now cut the other half of the coriander and sprinkle on top. Serve with the naan, which can still be lukewarm.

Basamti rice goes well with or instead of the naan.