Butter Chicken Ramdan Special

Ingredients:

Chicken
2 lbs chicken (preferably thigh meat, boneless and skinless, cut into 2-3 inch pieces)
2 teaspoons ginger paste
1 ½ tablespoons garlic paste
1-2 teaspoons red chili powder
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt as per taste
2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon Oil
2 teaspoons lime/lemon juice
2 pinches of food color (deep orange, totally optional)

For curry Preparation
4 large tomatoes, quartered
1 ½ tablespoons garlic paste
2 teaspoons ginger paste
1 jalapeno
1 2-inch cinnamon piece
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 green cardamom
6 whole black pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon red chili powder
½ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
Salt as per taste
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoon butter
Water (1/2 cup + about ½ cup)

For Garnish
Chopped cilantro
Heavy cream

Method of  Preparation:

Chicken
Wash and thoroughly pat dry the chicken and put it in a large non-reactive bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix well to ensure all the chicken pieces are well coated. Cover and let the chicken marinate for minimum 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.
When ready, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a large wok or a pan. Transfer the marinated chicken along with all the marinade to the wok, on medium-high heat cook the chicken till all the liquid has dried up and the chicken is cooked and starts to get brown on the surface. This will take about 10-15minutes. (You can also grill the chicken pieces)

Once the chicken is done remove it to a clean platter. This can be done a day in advance too.

Curry Preparation
In a large pan heat 2 tablespoons oil and add green cardamoms, cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon; sauté for 30-40 seconds. Now add ginger and garlic paste; stir fry everything for a minute or so. Finally add the cut tomatoes and jalapeno along with ½ cup of water. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, let everything cook for 5-7 minutes or till the tomatoes are soft and starts to breakdown. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.
Once the tomato mixture has cooled down, remove all the whole spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and black pepper) and discard. Now put the tomato mixture in a blender and make a puree.

Transfer the pureed tomatoes to a clean pan, add ketchup, sugar, red chili powder salt and dried fenugreek leaves and ½ cup of water. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Keep stirring occasionally. Now add butter give a quick stir, let the sauce simmer on lowest heat for good 5-7 minutes, or until you can see the oil bubbles started to show in the sauce. If you feel sauce is too thing add little water to get your preferred consistency. Generally this sauce should have consistency of thick pancake batter.

Once the sauce is done, add the cooked chicken pieces, let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and transfer the dish to serving platter.
Top it with chopped cilantro and little heavy cream (optional), enjoy with choice of bread or