How To Make Indian Makhani Gravy (Curry)
on Dec 29, 2015, Updated Aug 31, 2020
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Learn how to make Indian Makhani Gravy (Curry) for when you’re responsible to cook meals but don’t have the time to go through every step, every day! This recipe is really easy and the gravy is freezer friendly, so it can be stored for later use. Freeze it in jars or zip lock bags!
If you know me, you know how much I love meal prep to make my weeknight dinner game even easier and more hassle-free. There’s no better feeling than finishing work and not having to stress about what to make for dinner, because you have a fridge and freezer prepped with some quick and easy meals. And This Indian Makhani Gravy is hands down, my favorite thing to have in the fridge.
If you are a busy bee and never have time to cook (like most of us), make a large quantity and just freeze them in small jars or freezer friendly zip locks. It’s perfect for all sorts of deliciousness: paneer makhani, murgh (chicken) makhani, paneer butter masala, chicken butter masala, veg makhani or even egg makhani if you are into that kind of thing. This basically works for everything except dal makhani.
Quick Walk Through: Indian Makhani Gravy
Top Tips To Make The Best Makhani Gravy
- This recipe makes gravy for 8 – 10 servings. But you can easily double or halve the ingredients depending on your requirement.
- Make sure you use good quality ziplocks or freezer friendly containers to avoid spoilage or health hazards.
- If you don’t have cashews, you can easily replace them with soaked almonds for similar results.
- You can easily make this curry vegan by replacing butter with oil and fresh cream with coconut milk.
FAQs
Makhani gravy is a made with a base of onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and a mix of whole and ground spices. Ingredients like cashews, poppy seeds, and cream are used to give it that typical creamy luscious finish.
Most restaurants have gravies which are deep red in color. People, if you still haven’t figured it out, that’s just food coloring. Which we will steer clear of, except when we are making our Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies. That’s why this gravy is restaurant style, but orange instead of the crazy red that we are all used to seeing.
I know you are tempted. Trust me you’ll never make makhani any other way!
How To Make Indian Makhani Gravy (Curry)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- 1 Green Chili
- 4 Kashmiri Red Chilies
- 2 tablespoons Ginger, Paste
- 1 tablespoon Garlic, Paste
- 2 Bayleaves
- 2 Cinnamon, Sticks
- 5 – 6 Cloves
- 2 Cardamoms
- 1 teaspoon Peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons Cashewnuts, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds, Khus Khus
- 14 Tomatoes, large (1 1/2 Kg , coarsely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 3 tablespoons Ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Sugar, or Jaggery (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons Kasuri Methi, Dry
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Cream
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pan or kadhai, heat a tablespoon of butter and two tablespoons oil.
- Add green chili, red chillies, ginger, garlic paste and whole spices. Saute for a minute or two and add cashew nuts, poppy seeds and tomatoes. Mix well. Cover and cook this for ten to fifteen minutes till the tomatoes start breaking down. Switch off the flame and set aside to cool.
- Once cool enough to handle, fish out as many whole spices as possible, and grind the mixture to a smooth paste.
- In the same pan or kadhai, heat the remaining butter and add the ground paste from step #3. Add garam masala powder, chili powder, turmeric, ketchup, salt and sugar or jaggery (if using) along with 1/2 cup water. Bring this to a boil.
- Once the curry comes to a boil, simmer and cook for 30 minutes, till the oil separates slightly. In another pan, dry roast the kasuri methi and grind it to a fine powder. Mix kasuri methi and fresh cream in the curry and switch off the flame.
- Let the curry cool completely before dividing it into smaller portions and freezing it in ziplock packs.
Notes
- Tomatoes: Substitute fresh tomatoes with three 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes. Or use 4 cups Tomato Puree or Tomato Passata
- Garam Masala: I use homemade garam masala, but you can substitute it with any store bought garam masala. Please note that garam masala is different from curry powder
- Butter: I love adding butter to this dish, but you can substitute it with ghee
- Sweetness from Ketchup: I think a really mild sweetness in butter chicken is actually nice and it balances the sourness from tomatoes. But feel free to reduce or increase the amount of ketchup based on what you like.
Hi richa,
I must say your gravvy is delicious and easy to make. In the past few daz i ve made d gravvy quite a few times, and everybdy gives me a compliment. All thanks to you and your hard work.
Pls share a few more different gravvies for we vegetarians.
Thank you.
God bless you and your passion for cooking.
Thank you so much Abhipsa! So glad you liked it 🙂
I tried this one out twice now, it’s awesome.
I’ve been carrying around the memory of the taste of a local Indian restaurant that closed down, they did a great makhani but they’re gone… I finally managed to replicate the taste with this recipe (I added just a bit more garlic second time round).
Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much Dave!
We all know how important a good and tasty gravy base is. Especially in Punjabi sabji or in Indian food. The right amount of ingredients makes the gravy tasty and delicious. And if you’re good in making gravy than you’re a master chef.
Hi! I’m so excited to try this recipe! Can you tell me the steps to finish the dish, using this paste? Thank you!
Hey Mandy, you can use this paste as the base for any curry you’d like to make. Just use a 1/2 -1 cup depending on how much curry you want to make, add veggies or protein and simmer till everything’s cooked. You will need to add extra salt. You can also add some cream or coconut milk to make this creamy.
Hi,
I recently got an instant pot and would love to make a big batch of this using IP. still newbie at it and wanted to check if you would know what steps need to be modified. Thanks!
I haven’t tried this in an IP Neha, but I would say that you can use the saute function for this curry. In Step #5, instead of boiling it, just cook it on high pressure for 8-10 minutes. You might need to simmer it a bit if its too watery, but the taste should be the same.
Hi there,
When you “fish out the whole spices”, do you also include the whole fresh chillies in that and grind those up too? Making right now, thanks!
Hey there! Yea we fish out only the spices so the chillies stay in. The dried red chillies give the gravy it’s colour and flavour.
Dear Richa,
Your makhani gravy is not only easy to make, but most importantly: it is so delicious! Love it!
I would like to serve it at a dinner party. However one of the guests is allergic to all kinds of nuts. Can I use a substitute for the Cashews, or just omit them, without losing the creamy, silky consistency of the gravy? Thanks a lot
G
Hey Greg, thank you! I’m so happy that you liked it. You can skip the cashews altogether, and add a little extra cream to the gravy, right towards the end. That should do it!
Kasuri Methi seeds or leaves, dear?
Thanks.
That’d be kasuri methi leaves 🙂
Hi Snehal, thats a huge compliment! Thank you so much. I’m really happy you liked it 🙂
Being a foodie I am always on trials,I was searching excellent recipe for Makhani gravy,I must say your recipe turn out yummilicious. And I had tried Sanjeev kapoor’s makhani recipe but it was okay.so Thumbs up for your recipe ????.