Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken take III)

I know I haven't posted in a week or two but I promise I have been cooking. I made a pretty decent Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) that wasn't quite as good as the second time I made it. I think part of that was using fresh tomatoes instead of canned pureed tomatoes - seems to make a big difference. The only problem is time and mess. The canned pureed variety make the job a lot simpler and less messy.

The recipe for this last one is located HERE if you are interested. Her recipe actually asked for fresh tomatoes but I substituted the canned ones. The only thing I would change about her recipe is pureeing the tomato/pepper mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients and also adding less ground methi leaves.
                                                     

In Pictures

Marinate the chicken

Chop up the onions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers

  I pre toasted and ground the spices when I put the chicken in to marinate so that later all I had to do was dump them in!

 The onions have to cook for a really long time, they should be really soft.

 Add the spices and let them mingle.

 I baked the chicken but if it were warmer...it would be best to grill it.

 Add the tomato paste.

 Here is where real tomatoes would be better, I also wondered if using better ones, like Muir Glen would have helped.

Chopped chicken THIGHS

 I used half and half instead of full cream.

Here is the finished product. I just added some chopped cilantro leaves and put it over basmati rice.