Butter Chicken

The world's most ordered Indian dish — tender tandoor-charred chicken in a velvety tomato, butter and cream sauce.

Butter chicken (murgh makhani) was invented in 1947 at Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi by Kundan Lal Gujral. The story goes that leftover tandoori chicken was simmered in a sauce of tomatoes, butter and cream to prevent it drying out — an act of kitchen thrift that created the world's most ordered Indian dish. Jawaharlal Nehru and Richard Nixon both dined at Moti Mahal. The dish is now the most ordered dish on Deliveroo and Uber Eats in the UK, Australia and Canada. The Kashmiri chilli that gives it the distinctive orange-red colour without excessive heat cannot be substituted without changing the dish's character entirely.

The chicken must be cooked in a tandoor or under a very hot grill first to get the char. Blend the sauce completely smooth and pass through a sieve. Use Kashmiri chilli for the colour.