Butter chicken from scratch

This Sunday started off like most other Sundays… slow start… leisurely breakfast prep and then a nice traditional family breakfast with pancakes, thick bacon and eggs, oh…and coffee…always coffee!

Once that was done, we changed gears. We cleaned up and headed downstairs to our eldest son’s music room, or should I say, his soon-to-be-awesome-music room. Until now, it’s been an unorganized and pale green room we all preferred to avoid. Our big guy has been asking us for months to convert it into a proper, classy music room where he could display his guitars and have room to jam with some friends. We agreed with him, but life and schedules got in the way and we never started the project, beyond buying paint. So this weekend we finally got started. Yesterday, Liz prepped the room with the help of both our kids. After doing some cooking, I joined Liz and we completed the first coat on two walls. Today, we headed back down to paint a second coat. After about an hour we looked at each other and Liz said the thing we’d both been thinking, “Let’s call Antonio”. Liz and I HATE (yup, those are capitalized) painting, and we’re not very good at it. Antonio is this awesome painter who painted the main floor of our house a few years ago. Basically, we both came to realize that with our lack of skill and our busy schedules, there was no way we were going to have this room finished in any decent amount of time (I mean, not for weeks). I couldn’t have agreed more with Liz, and lucky for us, Antonio was sitting in our living room about 5 hours later, discussing the project. Needless to say, we’re now smiling more than we were earlier in the day. Thanks Antonio!

After all this paint chaos, what better way to celebrate this “work hand-off”, than with some delicious butter chicken. This was my first time making this dish. I’ve eaten butter chicken quite a few times. My family, on the other hand, not so much. They aren’t fans of the stronger flavours or ‘heat’ in Indian cuisine. Butter chicken is the exception because of it’s milder flavour. There was a bit of effort making the dish, but it wasn’t difficult at all and it was completely worth it. Oh… and the house smelled so good! Basically the cut-up chicken sits overnight in a bath of yogurt and spice goodness, and then the next day it gets slow-cooked to perfection. Add nutty basmati rice and some naan bread and you have a recipe for success.

Everyone at home loved it! I think Liz enjoyed it even more because she knew we no longer had to worry about the painting work to be done. If you’ve ever been cautious about trying to make Indian food, I encourage you to cook up some butter chicken… and eat well, friends!

From Scratch Butter Chicken

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 10 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

 

This butter chicken recipe is made from scratch and it's so creamy and delicious served on a bed of basmati rice. Don't forget the naan bread.

Author: Nelson Cardoso

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 8 Servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into large bite-sized pieces
• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into large bite-sized pieces
• 
  
• Marinade
• 1 cup plain yogurt with fat (I use 3%)
• 2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tsp ground turmeric
• 5 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 3 tsp chilli powder
• 
  
• Cooking the Butter Chicken
• 8 tbs unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium cooking onion finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbs fresh grated ginger
• 14 fl-oz diced tomatoes (1 can)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
• 4 tsp tomato paste
• 4 sprigs of cilantro cleaned and chopped

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients well.
2. Add the chicken and stir until all the pieces are evenly coated.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night or for at least 4 hours.
4. Place a large pan on the stove top and heat to medium high.
5. Add the oil and butter and heat until the butter is fully melted and hot (but not burnt).
6. Add the diced onion and cook until translucent (should be soft).
7. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook and stir for another 3 minutes.
8. Turn down the heat to medium and add the tomatoes, tomato paste and salt.
9. Stir until well combined. Cook for 15 minutes.
10. Add the chicken with marinade and cook for about 8 minutes covered.
11. Add the chicken stock. Note: you may find that it looks a bit dry, this is normal.
12. Raise the heat to high and stir until a boil is reached
13. Lower the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes.
14. Stir in the cream and continue to simmer for about 12 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
15. Serve hot on a bed of basmati rice and sprinkle the chopped cilantro over the chicken.
16. Enjoy!

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