Daily Archives: July 14, 2018

Butter Chicken (Chicken Makhani) is a really popular dish in Indian Restaurants and with good reason.  It’s a full-flavored dish with a lovely, mildly spiced curry sauce.  Though traditionally made with bone-in chicken I choose the easy route of boneless, skinless chicken thighs every time.  We like to serve it with naan and raita.

Butter Chicken

Yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp curry powder

1 Tbsp curry paste

1/4 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)

2 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp garam masala

1 6oz can tomato paste

15 green cardamom pods *

1 14oz can coconut milk

1 cup plain yogurt

salt, to taste

1 bunch cilantro**

basmati rice, prepared

PREPARATION

1. Melt the butter and vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the chicken, onion and garlic.  Cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in the curry powder, curry paste, chili powder, fenugreek, tandoori masala, garam masala, and tomato paste.  Stir until no lumps remain.
3. Add the cardamom pods and coconut milk, stir.
4. Put the yogurt in a medium bowl. Very slowly add about 2 cups of the tomato sauce, stirring continuously.  Then, pour the entire thing back into the skillet.  Season to taste with salt and simmer 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
5. Remove and discard cardamom pods.  Place butter chicken into serving dishes, add a side of basmati rice, and top with cilantro.

*Take a needle and thread, pierce the needle through the top of the cardamom pod.  Continue with all the pods and tie the ends together.  It makes it much easier to remove them when the butter chicken is done.

**Georgia’s Nerdy Note: If you are unable to eat cilantro, you can swap parsley for it.  Some people have the same genes, OR6A2, which cause cilantro to taste like soap due to picking up other scents that those without the gene set detect.  Parsley is an easy swap, so you don’t miss out!