Indian butter chicken
Indian friends:
We have some dear Indian friends. It is always a pleasure when we are invited for dinner, because we enjoy their company and their fine cuisine. We recently had the best butter chicken I have ever tasted. Our friend, Vrashali, gave us the general recipe (she was not sure of the exact amounts of each ingredient to use, because she cooks by taste). But I managed to make some minor changes and determine the necessary quantities to come up with a similar dish. It is a real must to serve this with naan. I hope you enjoy.
Ingredients (serves 6):
- 5 tablespoons – plain yogurt
- 3 tablespoons – lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons – masala powder (it can be purchased in Asian or Indian stores and even some supermarkets)
- 2 teaspoons – ginger-garlic paste
- 6 pounds – chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
- 1 ½ sticks (12 ounces) – butter
- 2 teaspoon – ginger-garlic paste
- 46 ounce can – tomato juice (I use Hunt’s juice – don’t use tomato sauce or V8 juice)
- 1 tablespoon – cashew powder (take several cashew nuts and crush them)
- 1 teaspoon – salt
- 1 teaspoon – pepper
- 3 teaspoon – sugar
- 4 tablespoons – yogurt
- 1 cup – half and half cream
- 6 servings – cooked rice
Preparation:
Add the yogurt, lemon juice, masala, and ginger-garlic paste and mix well. Make diagonal slices in the chicken (so that the marinade will permeate the chicken) and add the chicken to the marinating sauce.
Diagonal slices in the chicken prior to marinating.
Place in a large freezer bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Chicken in marinating mixture.
After the chicken has marinated, grill over medium-low heat cooking slowly so it will not burn (see photo). Once the chicken has been cooked, remove from the grill and cut into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
Grilled marinated chicken
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Mix in the ginger-garlic paste and tomato juice and bring to a boil. Add the cashew powder, salt, pepper, sugar, yogurt and half and half along with the chicken and reduce heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 30 minutes. Stir periodically. Once the sauce has thickened, spoon the butter chicken over the rice and serve with naan. Bon appétit.
Butter chicken
J. Botticelli