Butter Chicken

 Today's blog post was inspired by my BFF, Aman. He's from India but he doesn't know how to cook Indian food. Actually, I'm not sure if he knows how to cook any kind of food. He also doesn't eat vegetables and he sleeps in until 2pm everyday. And he's single. Ladies? ;)

On a more serious note, he is the one who introduced me to butter chicken (or "murgh makhani"). It has now become my favorite Indian dish and it's also really easy to make. I got the recipe from Closet Cooking (amazing blog, by the way!) but I couldn't find fenugreek leaves or almond butter so I had to leave them out. It still tasted really good without them so if you don't have those ingredients or can't find them in the store, don't panic like I did.

Butter Chicken
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
• 1 teaspoon coriander, toasted and ground
• 2 cups tomato (fresh or canned), pureed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • Salt
  • cilantro, chopped
  • 
    
  • For the chicken:
  • 1 pound chicken
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • olive oil
  
  

  Directions

  1. Marinate the chicken with the cream, coriander, garam masala, cumin, garlic and cayenne pepper for at least one hour. 
  2. Grill or saute chicken with olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked.
  3. Dice cooked chicken and set aside
  4. Melt  butter in a pan over medium heat.
  5. Add the cinnamon, cloves, cumin and coriander and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
  6. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and cayenne, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken, about 10-15 minutes.
  
  7. Add the chicken, honey, and cream and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
  8. Add the garam masala and salt and remove from heat.
  9. Serve over basmati rice with butter and cilantro.

10. Enjoy!