Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Medium
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Categories: Indian Feast Series

Mellow, comforting, and luxurious. This butter chicken packs a huge flavour through delicately balancing chilli and spices with almonds and cream. Who says butter chicken is boring?

EQUIPMENT

Cookware: Cast iron casserole pot with lid (min 3.3l capacity/22cm width), baking tray with a rack, large bowl for marinating.

Specialist utensils: Food processor, tongs, wooden spoon.

  • 1 kg chicken thighs skinless and boneless – cut into bitesize pieces

    • Marinade:

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Thumb (2 inches) of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  • 30 ml of double cream or Oatly double cream
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp soft brown sugar
  • Chilli powder to taste (1/2 tsp)
  • 25 ml sunflower oil (or any other neutral oil)

    • Curry sauce:

  • 30 g ghee (it is *butter* chicken!)
  • 2 onions
  • 3 green chillies – 2 chillies chopped, 1 left whole and split halfway down the length so the top half is still intact.
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • large thumb of ginger (approx. 3 inches)
  • 7 whole black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3 green cardamom pods
  • 2 tsp tomato puree
  • 1 tomato tin
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • salt
  • 1-2 tsp soft brown sugar
  • 50 g ground almonds
  • 600 ml freshly boiled water
  • 50 ml double cream/oatly cream

METHOD

  1. For the marinade: In a large bowl mix the marinade ingredients together and taste for seasoning, chilli, lemon, and sugar. It should taste strong as the flavour will mellow when cooked. When you’re happy with the taste, add the chicken and work the marinade into the crevices. Leave to marinate for a few hours, ideally overnight.
  2. For the curry sauce: In a food processor, finely chop the onions, 2 chillies, ginger and garlic. Find a large cast iron pot and turn the gas to a medium heat. Add the ghee, chopped onion mixture, whole peppercorns, cumin seeds and green cardamom pods (bash the cardamom pods so they spilt open).
  3. Cook the onions until they’re the colour of medium oak. Do not rush this part, and do not burn the onions. The more caramelised the onions, the sweeter and deeper the flavour. The onions should be a deep brown (hex range around #975123).
  4. Once the onions are brown add the tomato puree and the split green chilli. Cook this out for a minute. Tip in the tin of tomatoes and fill the can to a quarter of the way up with freshly boiled water (approximately 100 ml). Swirl the water around the tin to pick up the last of the tomato juice and tip this into the pot. Fry for 5-10 mins or until the tomatoes have reduced in liquid and you can start to see the ghee separating out from the tomatoes when it’s left alone for a few seconds.
  5. Add the turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. Cook for a minute or two to release the flavour of the spices.
  6. Stir in the ground almonds and cook for a couple of minutes to lightly toast the almonds. The sauce will be very thick so add as much boiled water as needed to loosen the paste into a thick sauce. Cover with a lid and cook for 10-15 minutes.
  7. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Take out the whole chilli and blitz the sauce (peppercorns and all) until smooth. Taste for flavour and tweak as necessary. Add the whole chilli back into the smooth sauce. Put the lid on the pot and keep on low heat while you make the chicken.
  8. For the chicken: Line an oven tray with foil and place the chicken on a wire rack above the foil. Turn the grill on the highest setting and grill the chicken until the edges char and take on a smokey flavour. Turn and char the other side. Depending on the size of pieces, the chicken may not be cooked in the middle, and that’s fine for now. The intention is to get smokey black bits on the outside as if the chicken has been in a tandoor. Once this is achieved, add the chicken pieces to the sauce – and importantly – tip in any juices that have collected on the foil into the sauce.
  9. Cover the curry with a lid and very gently simmer until the chicken has gotten to know the sauce, is tender, and fully cooked. Approximately 20-25 mins.
  10. Serve with fresh coriander, plain basmati rice and/or garlic naan.

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