Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Butter Chicken

The other night, my partner and I decided to use up the jar of what we believed to be butter chicken sauce in our pantry. Wanted to give it that extra kick, I decided to look up some recipes for something I could marinate the chicken in during the baking process to give it that little extra kick. I got some great advice on making some garam and tandoori masala and baking the chicken in a paste of that. Once I was done, I went to the pantry to grab the sauce, and wouldn't you know it, it wasn't Butter Chicken. On one of our grocery trips we had accidentally picked up a bottle of Mango Curry sauce instead. While I am sure it is wonderful, I had prepared everything with the idea of making butter chicken. I jumped online and scrolled through a bunch of recipes, until I put together something that I could enjoy. Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Spice Mix
2 tbsp Garam Masala (spice mix containing cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger)
1 small can of tomato paste (1 tbsp for spice mix, rest of can for sauce)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chile powder
1 tsp cayenne Pepper
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp Molasses
Salt

2 chicken breast

1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of plain yoghurt or sour cream
2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion puréed
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix together the spice mix ingredients, using only 1 tbsp of the tomato paste and conserving the rest for the sauce. You should have a moist spice mixture/rub. Use some of the spice mix to rub onto the chicken breasts.

Bake chicken breast at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, 10 minutes on each side. Make sure chicken is fully cooked, then cut into cubes about 1/2 square inch.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and then add the onion. Fry for a few minutes until cooked. Add remaining ingredients and the spice mix, including remaining tomato paste. Let simmer and add more of less of the same spices from the spice mix depending on how strong you like the flavour. The longer you let it simmer, the spicier the sauce will get. If it evaporates too much, you can add more whipping cream, or use milk or water. Don't boil as you might curdle the cream.

Add the chicken cubes and allow to simmer in the sauce for a few minutes.

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice.