Ingredients:
1 kg boneless chicken skin removed
6 cloves
8-10 peppercorns
1″ stick of cinnamon
1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to suit your taste)
2 bay leaves
8-10 almonds
3-4 pods of cardamom
1 cup fresh yogurt
3 tbsps cooking oil
2 tsps garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
2 onions chopped finely
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsps coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
400g of chopped tomatoes, ground into a smooth paste in a food processor
1/2 liter chicken stock
2 tbsps kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
3 tbsps unmelted, soft butter
Juice of 1 lime/ lemon
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
For marination, mix the chicken, lime juice, salt and red chilli powder in a large, non-metallic bowl and kept aside for an hour.
Heat a flat pan. On medium heat, gently roast the cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaves and almonds till they darken slightly.
Cool and add the cardamom seeds.
Now grind into a coarse powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
Mix the yoghurt, above whole spice powder (from previous step), coriander, cumin and turmeric powders together and add them to the chicken. Allow to marinate for another hour.
Heat the oil in a deep pan on medium heat,add the onions and fry till a pale golden brown in color.
Now add the ginger and garlic pastes. Fry for a minute.
Add only the chicken from the chicken-spice mix and fry till sealed.
Now add the chicken stock, tomato paste, kasuri methi and remaining part of the yogurt-spice mix to the chicken.
Cook till the chicken is tender and the gravy is reduced to half.
In another small pan, melt the butter and then pour it over the chicken.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Naan.