Indian Butter Chicken

Fairy Nuff's Note:

This is my family's favourite butter chicken recipe - it came about after my youngest son stayed at a friends house and they bought Indian take-away. Youngest says this is just like the one he had at his friend's. This is one of favourite dishes. Although quite often thought to be an Indian dish this recipe was actually developed in the UK.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 kg boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in large chunks
• 50 g butter
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh green ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (more or less to taste)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 cardamom pods, bruised
• 1 (400 g) can tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Heat a wok until really hot, add 1 Tbsp oil.
2. Add half the chicken and stir-fry for about 4 minutes or until chicken is a nice colour.
3. Remove to plate.
4. Add extra oil and cook remaining chicken.
5. Remove from wok.
6. Reduce heat and add the butter.
7. When melted add all of the spices and stir-fry until fragrant- about 1 minute.
8. Return chicken to wok and stir to coat with the spices.
9. Add the tomato and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes- stir occasionally.
10. Add the yogurt, cream and lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens a bit.
11. Serve over rice.
12. **This dish can be frozen. After step nine cool completely then store in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. To reheat, thaw in bag in fridge overnight then add contents to saucepan. Reheat gently, then simmer for 8 minutes - add the yoghurt, cream and lemon juice and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Reviews

[Marysdottir]

Fast, easy, very good! I used sour cream since I had no yoghurt - it was delicious. Thanks so much for posting this.

[Peachie Keene]

We absolutely adored this dish! Funny story... My brother-in-law lives in India, and he flew in for a suprise visit the same night that I was cooking this. He knocked on our door and came inside and the first thing he said was 'it smells like you're cooking Indian food in here'. What a coincidence :) He passed however, and exclaimed that he was 'ready to eat some American food for once' - LoL :D I made and used Quick Garam Masala and instead of cardamom pods (couldn't find any!) I used 6 teaspoons of ground cardamom. I served this with Butternut Squash With Cumin Couscous. Perfect!

[JustJanS]

Tastes just like restaurant butter chicken-delicious. An easy to follow recipe that we both loved so much thank you!