I have loved Indian food.
And I have always been very intimidated to try cooking it.
My friend Barney, who is a vegetarian, and just an amazing cook, can make Indian food that would make Ghandi become a glutton.
One of my favorite dishes is Chicken Tikka Masala.
Pretty involved, but most of my recipes are…that’s what makes them fun.
But another caught my eye on a food blog.
Christ, I have almost as many food blogs bookmarked as porn sites…almost.
Rasamalaysia has some great recipes, beautiful photography, and its wonderfully addictive.
So, when I saw Butter Chicken, I wasn’t impressed at first.
Until I read the ingredients.
Very much like a Masala but with a nice twist.
I made it to the recipe the first time but then added a few things.
Basically, its 2 parts.
The marinade for the chicken, and then the sauce it finishes cooking in.
It’s all very easy, just a few ingredients were tough to find.
Hopefully, there is a place that sells Indian spices near you.
If not, you might have to go to that http://www.internet.http thing I have heard so much about.
Ingredients:
4 good sized, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
Juice of 2 lemons
A few shakes of red chili powder
2 cups thick yogurt. You can find it in Indian supermarkets.
Or maybe a greek yogurt would work too.
but then it would be a Greekian recipe…or Indieek.
Just find the right stuff.
2 tablespoons grated ginger
AT LEAST 2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons tandoori masala
Now the spice place I went to did not have this.
So, after I straiffed the place with my nerf rifle, the owner informed me I could use Tandoori paste instead. This is just wonderful stuff! I used more than it called for…probably close to 5 tablespoons since its less concentrated than the dry version.
Now that’s the marinade.
Partially freeze the chicken so when you cube it, it cuts easier.
1 inch cubes are good, no smaller as you are going to grill them on wooden skewers that I forgot you should be soaking in water overnight.
Combine the chicken and all the other ingredients together in a bag(except the skewers…they might puncture it) and let sit overnight in this amazing bath.
The sauce can be made now or tomorrow when the chicken is ready.
6 tablespoons butter
6 cardamoms
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
I large can tomato puree
1 large can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste.
1 tablespoon honey…only from Floyd Lem!
2 tablespoons dried fenugreek leaves…Ha! Good luck with that one
2 cups heavy cream
Melt butter and add cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, and cloves.
Cook slowly until the butter begins to brown and spices begin cook out a little. Stir a lot to keep butter from burning.
NOT THAT MUCH!
There…thats better.
Stir in tomato paste and let cook for a few minutes, stirring all the time just to cook out the rawness of the paste.
Add the rest of the ingredients except for the cream and cook about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.
It should start to thicken a little.
Add room temperature cream and cook on low for another 15 minutes or so.
So at this point, you have to add the chicken.
NOT YET…YOU HAVE TO GRILL IT FiRST!
Make skewers of the chicken chunks and grill on all sides until nicely cooked with some light black char marks.
Add to sauce and bring to simmer for around 1/2 an hour.
Serve over Basmati or Jasmine rice.
Perfect.
You can freeze the sauce for up to 1/4 century.
One of my new favorites.
3 Mulligans 