Creamy rich, filled with aromatic flavors and one secret ingredient that adds floral sweetness that you will absolutely love! The sauce is so easy to make, and it can be added to various different dishes. You can add in paneer to make Paneer Butter Masala or Chicken Tikka Masala The sauce works great even with pasta and Indian style pizza.
Ingredients you need:
Onion -Red onion is always my first choice for Indian dishes, but you can go with white or yellow onion too. Tomatoes - I prefer to use canned tomato sauce as it adds a very vibrant shade to the masala, and it also avoids an extra step of blending the sauce. Ginger and Garlic - Fresh ginger garlic paste adds a better flavor as compared to the store bought bottled ginger garlic paste. Spices : Whole spices like bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, clove, black pepper, cardamom and star anise are added. Cinnamon Stick and Cardamom is not optional as it adds the floral flavor note. Dried Fenugreek Leaves which is kasuri methi in Hindi is one of the key dried herbs that are added to any rich curries for the flavor and taste. Cinnamon powder is my key secret ingredient. It adds a mild sweetness to the sauce that you will not get from adding just the cinnamon stick. Apart from these spices, the regular turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and fennel powder is added. For color, add Kashmiri chili powder. I not add fresh green chili or spicy chili powder as I like to keep the taste neutral and kid friendly too.
Steps to prepare the Makhani Sauce
Add finely chopped onion and season with salt. Stir it around for a while to soften the onion.
Scatter the ground spices and sauté the onion for a few minutes for the spices to cook.
You want to cook the onion with the spices until you see oil is released from the side. Keep stirring, so it doesn’t get burnt at the bottom of the pan.
Add canned tomato purée and then fill the can with water and pour that too.
Add cinnamon powder and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes for the flavor to infuse and the sauce to thicken.
Finally, add butter and stir it around. Once cooled completely, you can store the Makhani Sauce in a clean air tight jar in the fridge for 4 days or freeze and store for 3 months. If you really enjoy those restaurants like tomato-based curries, this fragrant makhani sauce will do the trick.
What is Kasoori Methi ? (Dried Fenugreek Leaves)
If you are not familiar with Indian cooking, you might wonder about the spice Kasoori Methi. It’s dried fenugreek leaves, and that is the key to the sauce. This dry herb brings out the flavor of the sauce uniquely that you cannot capture it using fresh fenugreek leaves or fenugreek seeds. I cannot suggest any substitute for this herb. You can go without this herb and still make the sauce, but the overall taste and flavor will not be the same. However, it will still be tasty. This Makhani Masala is a keeper, my friend. Make a big batch, store in an airtight jar or zip lock pouch, and it will last for 3 months in the freezer.
