Butter chicken is a fabulous comfort food at any time.
I PARTICULARLY love butter chicken, but don’t get the time to make it as often as I might like to eat it. As someone who actually can’t eat anything other than a very mild curry, this is my nod to such dishes with their tempting delicious aromas. Known as murgh makhani, the dish, created in 1948, originally hails from Northern India and is similar to tikka masala. Flavoursome rice such as basmati is my go-to, but really, any kind of long grain rice will do to accompany this. If you like it hotter, adjust the chili or cayenne pepper to your taste.
Ingredients Marinade 1/2 cup plain or Greek yoghurt 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp chilli powder OR cayenne pepper powder 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tbsp ginger, freshly grated OR 1 dsp dried ginger 2 cloves crushed garlic 750gm chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite-size pieces
Sauce 2 tbsp ghee, OR 2 tbs butter, and 1 tbs vegetable oil 1 C tomato puree 1 C thickened cream 1 tbsp sugar 1.25 tsp salt
Instructions Combine the marinade ingredients and mix well with the chicken in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight, up to 24 hours (it really should be a minimum of three hours). Heat the ghee (or the butter/oil replacement for it) over high heat in a large fry pan. Take the chicken but don’t shake the marinade from it; set leftover marinade aside. Place the chicken pieces in the pan and cook for around three minutes, or until the chicken is white all over. It won’t brown, but will retain a lovely golden colour. Add the tomato puree, cream, sugar and salt, and add the remaining marinade left in the bowl. Turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Do a taste test to see if it needs more salt. Garnish with optional coriander leaves on basmati rice and garlic naan bread.
