Saturday, January 05, 2008

Butter Chicken #1

My first attempt at Homemade Butter Chicken. I tried following Vijar Bhaardwaj's Makhani Chicken recipe on Allrecipes.com, but I had to make a couple substitutions. Overall, it was good but I wouldn't call it "Butter Chicken". It was more like... curried chicken. Perhaps less tomato, and use cream like the recipe calls for (I substituted coconut milk).

Update: Nathan really liked this! Justin said it wasn't "Butter chicken" but it was definitely a "Chicken Curry". I was just happy it was edible and tasted remotely Indian-esque. It was even better the next day -- I dipped wholewheat bread in the leftover sauce -- didn't taste tomatoey (like it did when it was cooking), and had a pleasant kick to it (made my nose run, but didn't require gulping down ice-water).

1 3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup yogurt (natural, no sugar added)
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1/2 tablespoon garam masala
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons ginger paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons garam masala
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
3 chopped red chile peppers (about 1 T)
1 can tomato paste (5.5 oz, 100% pure, no salt added)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 cup water
3 tablespoon honey
1 can premium coconut milk (398 mL)

To Marinate: Place chicken in a nonporous glass dish or bowl with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chili powder and salt. Toss to coat; cover dish and refrigerate to marinate for 1 hour.

Drain yogurt in a cloth for 15 to 20 minutes. Place in a medium bowl; mix in salt, garlic paste, garam masala, butter, chili powder, ginger paste, lemon juice and oil. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, replace cover and refrigerate to marinate for another 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Place chicken on skewers. Place skewers in a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until almost cooked through. Can also bake without the skewers. Set aside remaining marinade for the sauce.

To Make Sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garam masala. When masala begins to crackle, mix in ginger paste, chopped garlic and chile peppers. Saute until tender, then stir in tomato paste, chili powder, salt, garam masala and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring in honey.

Place chicken and remaining marinade in sauce mixture. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside. Stir in coconut milk.

No comments: