Butter Chicken is the easiest curry to make and one of the most famous. This chef’s recipe makes the best curry sauce without hunting down difficult-to-find ingredients.
Even though I enjoy making Indian food, I sometimes find the ingredients list daunting. I CAN MAKE IT once I have all the ingredients, but I often get stuck because I need to drive to my nearest Indian grocery store to buy them.
Butter Chicken is a rare exception. When I found Chef’s recipe for Butter chicken, I was thrilled to discover how simple the recipe is. You can buy all the ingredients at any supermarket.
Butter Chicken in 3 Easy Steps
- Make Butter Chicken Marinade, and marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours (but overnight is best).
- Cook chicken
- The sauce in the same pan
The secret of the flavourful, tender chicken is a yogurt marinade infused with spices, fresh ginger, garlic, and lemon juice. Butter chicken is spiced with turmeric, garam masala, and chili powder.
Butter Chicken: What to serve?
Sides and starters are essential for an excellent Indian meal! Every curry needs Naan for dipping and papadums to scoop up the sauce.
- Microwave-ready papadums! Place papadums on the turntable of your microwave and cook them for 45 to 1 minute or until they puff up. When they are warm, they will be soft. However, as soon as the papadums cool down, they crisp up. Your thighs will not expand as much when deep-fried as they would if you were to deep-fry them.
- Samosas! The ultimate Indian appetizer. Leftovers are great for snacks, lunch, or even dinner!
- Proper Naan is an original recipe I have worked on for five years. I am thrilled to share my Proper Naan Recipe, which can be made easily at home.
- Shortcut ‘naan’ –For a simple, no-yeast flatbread that tastes just as good, try my Simple No Yeast-Flatbread It looks and tastes like authentic Naan, but it’s faster and easier. This flatbread belongs on this feast.
Ingredients
MARINADE
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- # Half a cup of plain yogurt, total fat
- ▢ Lemon juice, 1 tbsp
- ▢ 1 tsp of turmeric powder
- ▢ 2 tsp Garam Masala (Note 1)
- ▢ Note 2: 1/2 tsp cayenne or chili pepper powder
- ▢ 1 tsp cumin ground
- ▢ Ginger, freshly grated: 1 tbsp.
- ▢ Two cloves garlic, crushed
- ▢ Cut into bite-sized pieces, 1.5 lb/750 g chicken thigh filets.
CURRY
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- ▢ 2 tbsp (30g) of ghee, butter or vegetable oil
- ▢ 1 cup tomato passata (aka tomato puree) (Note 4)
- ▢ 1 cup thickened heavy cream
- ▢ 1 tbsp Sugar
- ▢ 1 1/4 tsp of salt
Choose how you want to serve.
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- ▢ Basmati rice
- ▢ White rice
- ▢ Coriander/cilantro (optional)
Instructions
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- Optional blitz For an extra smooth sauce, combine all the ingredients in the Marinade (except for the chicken) and blend until smooth. (I don’t do this)
- Marinade: Combine all the ingredients for the Marinade with the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or overnight (minimum of 3 hrs).
- Cooking chicken: Heat ghee or butter over high heat in an extra-large frypan. Remove the chicken from the Marinade, but don’t wipe or shake the Marinade off.
- The chicken will not brown as it is marinated.
- Sauce: Add the tomato passata and cream to the salt, sugar, and sugar. Add any marinade that is left in the bowl. Reduce the heat to low, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste the dish to determine if you need more salt.
- Serve with a
- This Butter Chicken recipe is shown with my No-Yeast Flatbread (Note 5) and no-fry Papadums.
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