I LOVE butter chicken. It is always my go-to order at Indian restaurants and a good butter chicken is up there with my favourite foods. Sadly, butter chicken doesn’t always love me. I’m allergic to capsicum and while Canberran restaurant butter chicken was capsicum-free, the Adelaide restaurants I’ve tried all seem to add it in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. That meant that for 2 miserable years I had no butter chicken that didn’t result in terrible stomach pains.
Fortunately, Pinterest came to the rescue (as it often does), and after a few false starts, I found a recipe that produced butter chicken equal to or better than my favourite restaurant versions. The key ingredient is fenugreek leaves. They may be a little hard to find (I order mine online from herbies spices) but PLEASE do not judge this recipe without it – they are what set it apart from pre-made butter chicken sauces and give it its authentic flavour.
Because it is a little fiddly to make, we often double the recipe and make a huge batch that will make enough for several dinners and lunches. I actually think it tastes even better the next day once the flavours have had more time to integrate. We serve it with fluffy basmati rice and homemade rotis.
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
60g butter + 1 tablespoon for cooking
6 green cardamom pods
1 brown onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
50g cashews, soaked
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
1kg chicken thigh fillets, diced
½ teaspoon tandoori paste
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 cup cream
Method
Sauté cardamom pods in 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pan for 1 minute. Add onion, garlic and tomatoes with a pinch of salt and cook over a medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add cashews and ginger and continue to cook until tomatoes are pulpy.
Cool the mixture slightly, remove the cardamom pods, then blend with a stick blender until it resembles a loose, smooth puree.
Add 60g butter, chilli flakes, fenugreek leaves and salt and cook for around 15 minutes on medium heat.
Add chicken, tandoori paste, garam masala and honey. After 15 minutes, adjust seasoning as necessary and let simmer for a further 25-30 minutes for the flavours to develop.
Add cream just before serving.
Serve with rice and/or rotis. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from ‘Homemade Recipes.com.au’
Bakerholics Anonymous 