Butter Chicken

This recipe is from the new cookbook, India, by Pushpest Pant, which I reviewed last month--it is a wonderfully thorough and usable cookbook, with plenty of pictures to help you choose from a myriad of recipes.

Ingredients & Quantities:

2 lbs of Chicken cut into pieces
salt

For The Marinade:

1 Tbsp Garlic Paste
1 Tbsp Ginger Paste
2 Tbsps Hot Chilli Powder
2 Tsps Ground Coriander
1 1/2 Tsps Ground Turmeric
1 1/2 Tsps Garam Masala
2 Tbsps Lime Juice
500ml Natural Plain Yoghurt (if quantity is shown in grams just use 500g.)

For The Sauce:

125g Chilled Butter
6 Medium Tomatoes (skinned and pureed, alternatively chopped fine with a mezzaluna.)
1 Tsp Chilli Powder
2 Tsps Fenugreek Leaves (or ground seeds, if you are doing this yourself be prepared to work!)
1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
3 Tbsps Single Cream.

Method:

For the marinade mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and season with plenty of salt (I used sea-salt but table salt would be fine.)

Put your chicken chunks into a shallow container and pour over the marinade. Mix this well making sure that the chicken pieces are well coated. Cover this (a tupperware box would be perfect but I used a bowl and cling-film) and place in the fridge for a minimum of three hours. Leaving the marinade overnight would make the taste even better but I didn't have the time.

Heat oil in a large, heavy based pan sticking to a low heat. Pour in the chicken and marinade mix (it smells wonderful) then cover and cook for about half an hour or until you are satisfied the chicken is cooked through.


For the sauce melt a small portion of your butter in a skillet then add your puree of fresh tomato and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated. Add the remainder of the butter and allow it to fully melt. Add the chilli powder and cook for a minute or so. Sprinkle in your Fenugreek leaves (or in my case ground seeds) followed by the Garam Masala. Place the chicken chunks into the sauce and as much of the marinade you think you'll need for a good coating consistency. Finish by seasoning with salt and a swirl of single cream.