Indian butter chicken recipe, an easy Indian recipe for chicken in a creamy tomato sauce. Serve with chapati bread, naan bread or boiled basmati rice…
What’s your secret recipe for butter chicken?
Have you ever prepared butter chicken from scratch?
Or do you opt for the ready made store bought sauces? There’s nothing wrong with that though. I always say: better a good store bought sauce than a bad one from scratch.
From Scratch
Because in cooking it is all about flavor. Doesn’t matter where a product or ingredient comes from. As long as it’s got the right flavor. If it tastes good, then it is good.
Period.
My supermarket sells ready made Indian sauces as well.
Unfortunately they are rubbish. Way too sweet and no flavor whatsoever. So I had to make my Indian sauces at home. We all love a good Indian curry, don’t we. I’ve tasted quite a few curries in the UK and believe me: they were amazing.
Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe
Challenge for me today is to replicate that flavor at home.
So I thought I would start with one of the most popular curries in the world: butter chicken. I invested in a bunch of spices first. But it was worth every penny because wow, my butter chicken was heaven on a plate.
Vibrant, strong, flavorful, moist, creamy.
Everything I wanted it to be.
Yogurt
So yes, this Indian butter chicken recipe below is my very first attempt at cooking Indian at home! The yogurt based curries open a whole new dimension compared to Thai or Chinese cooking.
But it results in an amazingly creamy and delicious thick sauces. It fully coats the chicken or whatever protein you add.
I added half yogurt and half cream to my sauce because I like the creamy texture that it gives.
Serve the chicken with homemade chapati bread, homemade naan bread or boiled basmati rice… Whatever you prefer!
Enjoy!
Easy Indian Butter Chicken Recipe
Indian butter chicken recipe, an easy Indian recipe for chicken in a creamy tomato sauce. Serve with chapati bread, naan bread or boiled basmati rice...
- 10,5 oz fresh chicken breast (350 g)
- 1 cup canned chopped tomatoes (240 ml)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp tandoori masala spice mix
- ¼ ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ cup cream (120 ml)
- ⅔ cup unsweetened yogurt (160 ml)
- a handful fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- chili powder
- salt
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Then dice it up into bite-size chunks. Add them to a shallow dish together with 4 tablespoons of yogurt, the grated ginger, lemon juice, half of the garlic paste, a pinch of chili powder and the tandoori masala.
Stir the chicken and place it in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour. Then cover an oven rack with tinfoil and add the diced chicken.
- Grill the chicken for 7 minutes under a hot grill until a little charred. Add the butter to a large pan together with the cloves, bay leaves, ground cinnamon, cardamom and garam masala.
Place the pan over medium-high heat until the butter has melted. Then add the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste and remaining garlic paste. Season with a pinch of chili powder and salt.
Stir and bring the tomato puree to a gentle simmer. Cover the pan and simmer the tomato sauce for about 6 minutes. Then add the cream and remaining yogurt.
- Stir and add the grilled chicken and sugar.
Stir again. Cover the pan and cook the butter chicken for another 6 minutes. Then stir in the chopped cilantro.
- Check the seasoning of the sauce and add extra sugar, chili powder, salt or spices to taste. Then scoop the butter chicken onto deep warm plates and serve.
