Chicken Mahkiani - For Real

I have made this meal so often that I don't even have to reference my original recipe anymore so I'm going to wing this. Here is what you'll need:

Ingredients for the Marinade
1.5 lbs. Chicken, boneless, skinless and cleaned and cut into small cubes. I usually buy chicken tenderloins and use poultry shears to snip them down to about 1"

1-2 tablespoon. chile paste - it depends on how spicy you want it.
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or toast 1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin in a small frying pan for about 3 minutes then grind with a mortar and pestle)
3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons garlic
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (You want a thick yogurt, not the watery kind)
1-2 teaspoons Garam Masala
Combine all of the marinade ingredients with your chicken cubes. Be sure that your chicken is well covered with the marinade, cover and allow to refrigerate at least 2 hours up to 24 hours.

Chicken Marinade

Now we can start on the sauce:

Ingredients for the sauce

2 8oz. cans plain tomato sauce (Not pasta sauce)

1 can tomato paste (You're only going to use about half of it.)

2 sticks unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter) <--- I'll also post a walk through on how to make ghee

2 cups + heavy cream

Make sure it's smooth!

In a large sauce pan (I use a 4 qt. size) put all of your tomato sauce and about half of the tomato paste and combine so it isn't chunky at all from the tomato paste. Allow to simmer on medium low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring so it doesn't stick and become chunky. Add your butter and allow it to slowly melt into the tomato mixture.
Once the butter melts, slowly stir to combine and the mixture is smooth. It shouldn't separate  just make sure to mix it well. Allow to simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Slowly add the heavy cream, stirring to combine as you add it. Simmer it until it starts to thicken. Now we can move on to the chicken. There are a few different ways we can cook the chicken, depending on how much time you have.
1. Throw it straight into the sauce, scraping the rest of the marinade into it too, and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently for 30 minutes.
2. Skewer it and bake for grill the chicken until cooked and add to the sauce, again scraping what is left of the marinade into the sauce.
3. Using a medium size skillet, place chicken pieces in a single layer, not touching and sear on all sides then add to the sauce along with the rest of the marinade in the bowl.

Once you add the chicken, allow to cook in the sauce for 30-40 minutes, stirring so the sauce doesn't seperate. Viola! You have successfully made Murgh Mahkiani.

Murgh Mahkiani with Basmati Rice

I have included 2 links that teach you how to make basmati rice and naan. I love these recipes because they are so easy to follow.

Homemade Naan from Aarti's recipe on the Food Network

Naan - Aarti Sequeira
Simple Basmati Rice - Aarti Sequeira
And whatever you do, DO NOT cook Basmati rice in a rice cooker. It makes it all sticky and yucky...just don't even try it. I did and it was the biggest mistake ever.