Butter Chicken-Style Goose (Hans Makhani)
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This Butter Goose dish is prepared with marinated Canada Goose that is grilled and then served in a rich and flavourful curry made with tomato, butter/duck fat, and a special blend of authentic Indian spices as a base, just like the classic butter chicken dish at Indian take-outs.
While most Indian curries are prepared using a base made of onion and ginger/garlic paste cooked in oil, Butter or Makhani dishes use a tomato base and are cooked in butter to develop a slightly sweet and rich flavour.
With this recipe, I tried to keep it simple and straightforward while maintaining the traditional authentic flavours. Depending on your location the ingredients required for this dish may require a trip to your local Indian grocery (or specialty) store, but the trip will be worth it!
This dish is also great to prepare ahead of time, freeze and then reheat in portions as needed or to fill the thermos of your daypack while exploring the backcountry or sitting in your tree stand for a late-season deer hunt.
Serves: 4-6
Time to make: 1 hour
Also make with: duck
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Hans Makhani (Butter Goose)
4-6
servings20
minutes30
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Goose Marinade
4 Canada Goose breasts (cut into bite-sized squares)
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 large sweet onion (chopped)
1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp Kashmiri Lal Mirch (or red chili powder / paprika)
1 tsp salt
- Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp of unsalted butter (or rendered duck fat)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 1/2 tbsp garlic (minced)
1 tbsp ginger (minced)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp ground coriander
16oz crushed tomatoes
1 tsp Kashmiri Lal Mirch (or red chili powder / paprika)
1 tsp salt
1 cup of heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar
- Extras
Basmati Rice
Fresh Naan
Cilantro (garnish)
Preparation
- Remove the skin from 4 Canada Goose breasts (if necessary) and cut into bite sized pieces and place into a large mixing bowl. Combine all of the marinade ingredients, mix well, cover and marinate over night in the fridge. If you are short for time marinate for a minimum of 60 minutes, however the longer you allow the goose to marinate the more tender and flavourful it will be.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add in your chunks of goose breast once sizzling. Depending on the size of your skillet you may want to cook your marinated goose in batches to prevent over crowding in the pan and to ensure a consistent cook. Pan fry the goose 2 minutes per side and set aside while you start to prepare your sauce.
- In the same pan you cooked the goose in add your butter or rendered duck fat and fry the onions until they are soft, but are not beginning to brown (about 5 minutes). Why cooking the onions ensure you are scraping the bottom of the pan and leveraging all of the great flavours from the left over goose marinade.
- Add in ginger and garlic with the onions an sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add in the garam masala, ground coriander and cumin. Stir in the ingredients and for about 30 seconds before adding the crushed tomatoes, chili powder and salt.
- Let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally until the sauce becomes a dark reddish/brown colour and begins to thicken. Remove from heat and once cooled add to a blender and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick to blend well add small amounts of cold water to assist in the process.
- Pour the butter sauce back into the same pan from before and mix in the cream, sugar and dried fenugreek leaves. Add the goose back into the pan and cook on medium for another 10 minutes. The goose should be cooked to medium and the sauce thick and bubbling.
- Serve the butter goose over hot basmati rice and with fresh coriander as garnish and Naan bread for dipping and soaking up all the delicious sauce!
- Enjoy!!
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