Challenge Recap
Not So Basic, Butter Chicken Recap
Jul 15, 2026 · 3 min read
We promised a mild, curry-house butter chicken and the sauce mostly delivered. The roti and the chilli had other ideas.
The brief was the curry-house butter chicken, not the pale one most of us make at home: a base gravy, chicken with real char, and a fast final fry to bring it deep and glossy. The cooks who brought a plate back nailed the sauce almost across the board. It was the two things around it, the bread and the heat, that gave people trouble and showed up the recipe.
average rating from 3 cooks
The sauce was never the hard part
This held across every plate. The method works, and it beats the mild home version most people start with. One cook said the makhani carried the whole dish, glossier and richer than they expected on a first go. The yoghurt marinade kept the chicken tender and made the grill easier to clean, and one cook ran theirs over charcoal for a smoky edge. A blended base plus a hard final fry beats a jar, and it carries over to almost any curry you cook next. The puffed roti was the sleeper-hard part of the five skills: one cook swapped in self-raising flour and yoghurt for lift, another never got the balloon and happily ate them flat with rice. Fair reminder from us that we under-explained the puff for something we listed as just one skill among five.
“Warm and comforting like a butter chicken should be. Spicier than expected but loved it!”
About that "mild"
The recipe promised a mild, family-table curry, with the chilli doing colour rather than heat. Then a good chunk of the cooks found it spicier than they had banked on, and one stirred in extra cream to settle it. The caveat that mattered, that a powder labelled "Kashmiri-style" can run much hotter than the real thing and should be halved, was buried in a line about which aisle to find it in. When that many cooks get caught out, the reassurance was too confident and the warning too quiet.
What you keep
A week on, the kasuri methi is back in the cupboard and the sauce is yours whenever you want it. Not step by step, just the shape of it: marinate and char, blend a base, then fry it hard until it goes deep and glossy. That method outlasts the dish. You also come away able to read a chilli label and a little more relaxed about bread that will not puff.
Come cook with us
This was never about a flawless photo, it is about learning a new skill or two, cooking the same thing, and swapping what went right and what went sideways. So next time, bring your plate, glossy and proud or a split, too-spicy, flat-roti mess, and drag a mate along too. Everyone walks away having picked up something, and the bigger the table, the more fun that is.
The recipe
Curry-House Butter Chicken with Roti
65/150 min active/total · Serves 6 · 9 steps
Ingredients
Method
- 01
Marinate the chicken
Coat the chicken in a spiced yoghurt marinade. Longer is better.
In a bowl, mix the 150 g of Greek yoghurt with 1 tbsp each of grated ginger and crushed garlic, 2 tsp of Kashmiri chilli, 1 tsp of garam masala, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of kasuri methi, the juice of half a lemon, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of oil into a thick, rust-red marinade.
Add the halved chicken thighs and turn to coat every piece. Cover and refrigerate.
Give it at least 30 minutes. Every extra hour is free flavour: get it on as soon as the challenge lands and it will have had all day by dinner.
- 02
Make the quick base gravy
Simmer the curry-house base, then blend it silky. This stands in for hours of slow frying.
Heat the 60 ml of oil in the large pot over medium. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and ginger and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until completely soft and just turning golden.
Stir in the 1/4 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp each of cumin, ground coriander and salt, and the tomato. Cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
Pour in 600 ml of water and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice and scraping the bottom, until the carrot crushes against the side of the pot with no resistance. Got longer? 30 to 45 minutes deepens it further. Blend until completely smooth and pourable, adding a splash more water if it is thick. This silky base is what you will cook the curry from.
- 03
Make the roti dough and rest it
A three-ingredient dough that rests while everything else happens.
In the mixing bowl, combine the 250 g of atta, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of oil. Add about 170 ml of very warm water a little at a time, mixing until it comes together into a soft, slightly tacky dough.
Knead on the bench for 5 minutes until smooth and springy. Rub the surface with a little oil, cover, and rest for at least 30 minutes.
Do this now so it rests while you char the chicken and build the sauce. A rested dough is what lets the roti puff later.
- 04
Char the chicken
Get real colour on the chicken to mimic the tandoor.
Heat your grill or broiler to its highest setting. Shake the excess marinade off the chicken and lay the pieces on an oiled wire rack set over a tray.
Grill close to the element for 6 to 8 minutes a side, until the edges char and blacken in spots and the chicken is just cooked through. A screaming-hot pan or the BBQ works too. With a full kilo of chicken, char it in two batches rather than crowding the rack.
Rest the chicken while you finish the sauce. Do not skip the char. Those blackened edges are the flavour.
- 05
Bloom the makhani base
Melt butter and ghee, then bloom the spices and tomato paste into the fat.
In the wide frying pan, melt 60 g of the butter, the rest is for the finish, with the 1 tbsp of ghee over medium heat.
Add 1 tsp of Kashmiri chilli, 2 tsp of sweet paprika, 1 tsp of garam masala and 1 tsp of cumin and let them sizzle for 30 to 45 seconds until fragrant. Do not let them catch, paprika turns bitter if it burns.
Stir in the 3 tbsp of tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, until it darkens and the fat around the edges turns deep red. This is where the colour starts.
- 06
The final fry
Add the base gravy and reduce it hard until glossy and deep in colour.
Pour in half the blended base gravy and stand back, it will spit. Let it fry down until the fat pools back out at the edges, then add the rest with the 2 tsp of sugar.
Turn the heat up and fry, stirring often, for 8 to 10 minutes. The sauce will thicken, darken to a rich orange-red, and the butter will start to pool at the edges. This fry-and-reduce stage is the bhuna, the heart of the dish.
Taste and season with salt. It should taste deep and savoury, not raw.
- 07
Finish with chicken, cream and methi
Bring the charred chicken into the sauce and round it off.
Chop the charred chicken into chunks and add it to the sauce with any resting juices.
Pour in the 150 ml of cream and stir to a glossy, deep orange-red. Crush the 1 tbsp of kasuri methi between your palms and scatter it in.
Simmer gently for 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for salt and sugar, it will likely want another good pinch of salt. Too hot? Another splash of cream and a pinch of sugar pulls it straight back. Whisk in the reserved 30 g of cold butter until glossy. Keep the cream restrained so the colour stays deep, and save a little to swirl on top.
- 08
Cook the roti
Roll thin and even, then puff them on a hot, dry pan.
Divide the rested dough into 8. Roll each into an even round about 18 to 20 cm across on a lightly floured bench. Even thickness is everything, roll from the centre out and rotate as you go.
Heat the tawa or heavy pan over medium-high, dry, no oil. Cook a roti for 30 to 60 seconds until bubbles form, then flip.
Cook the second side until brown spots appear. Flip once more, brush with ghee, and keep them warm wrapped in a tea towel.
- 09
Plate it up
Serve deep, glossy and garnished, the Aussie curry-night spread.
Spoon the butter chicken into a wide bowl. Swirl over the reserved cream and let a knob of butter melt on top.
Scatter with fresh coriander. Serve with the hot roti to scoop, and basmati on the side if you want it.
Stand back and photograph that glossy, deep orange-red sauce before it disappears, because it will.