Butter Chicken

Butter chicken — murgh makhani — is tandoor-roasted chicken folded into a velvety sauce of tomato, butter and cream, gently warmed with garam masala, ginger and fenugreek. It is rich but mild, with a faint sweetness that makes it one of the most universally loved Indian dishes.

Scooped up with hot naan or buttery rice, the sauce is the whole point: glossy, deeply spiced and finished with a swirl of cream and fresh coriander.

Butter chicken was invented in Delhi in the 1950s at the Moti Mahal restaurant, where cooks revived leftover tandoori chicken by simmering it in a makeshift gravy of tomatoes, butter and cream. The improvisation became a classic and helped define the North Indian restaurant menu worldwide.

Its global spread tracked the Punjabi diaspora, and it remains the gateway dish that introduces millions to Indian food — so iconic that its very origin is still affectionately disputed between rival Delhi establishments.