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.
I LOVE this recipe. Thank you so much for posting it. Living in Canada sometimes it’s hard to get good tomatoes off season so I use 2 large cans of Marzano tomatoes and a bottle of Marzano Passat.Getting the Kashmiri peppers is also not happening in my small town so I use a tsp of Kashmiri chilli powder and 2 green Thai chillis. Also because I am lazy I toast the first round of whole spices than put them in a food grinder that way I don’t have to fish them out later and the taste is consistent with the original recipe. I make a big batch and it gets divided into 4 with us using it the day after it is made then the rest gets frozen. We use it with chicken marinated in tandoori spices and yoghurt and also chick peas with sliced onions. It is now our favourite. I’m going to try it with some paneer next!
Wow! I love all the details Susan. I bet this is going to help all the other readers too. I’m really glad you enjoy this recipe.
Learning the perfect makhani gravy is a winner and this recipe is just perfect to get those delicious restaurant style flavours. I also added 1 onion while making the paste while the rest of the recipe being as you’ve mentioned and it was absolutely packed with the best flavours. Thank you 😊 keep more recipes coming please
Perfect Neeyati! So happy this met the bar
There is no Tomato paste in the ingredients, yet there is in the method. Is the tomato paste the result of the liquidised first stage after fishing out the spices?
Hey John, yes, the tomato paste is basically a result of liquidising all the ingredients sans the spices in the first stage
excuse me, why wont this work as dhal makhani, please
Hi Richa,
I notice that your bulk Makhani gravy recipe contains no onions but the South Indian butter
chicken recipe contains 2 onions.
I am about to to make the gravy and want to be sure that onions are not necessary.
Superb recipes. You are a genius.
Thanks Peter. I use onions in the makhani gravy because the quantity is much larger. But just skip the onions.
Do I put the paste back into the pan before adding the butter, Garam masala, etc?
Never mind. You meant to add the tomato paste that I make in the food processor. Not a can of tomato paste. Got it. 🤪
Thre is no Tomato Paste on the Ingredient List but u use it in the Preparation Section, so how much do you use pls…
thank youp
Hey Bernhard, this recipe uses only coarsely chopped tomatoes and not tomato paste.
Say I want to add chicken thigh meat to this.. when would you say the best time to brown the meat and add it in would be?
Hey Sarah, you can add a little oil, cook the makhani paste, add chicken and water and then let this simmer till the chicken is cooked.
I was introduced to this amazing curry by my son in Woking, England last weekend. All cooked outside on a charcoal burner. It is beyond doubt the tastiest curry I have ever eaten. Period. Try it.
Yay! Glad you liked it
Im making this now. To clarify, so I take the spices out and grind them into a paste? Or just the tomatoes and discard the spices?
You have to grind just the tomato and discard the spices