My kid absolutely love Butter Chicken. Me…..never really been a fan of the store bought or takeaway kind. Too sweet, too creamy and never enough actual chicken, more……essence of chicken. Super easy and really tasty this rendition allows you to load it up with nice, big, juicy thigh chunks and hold off on the cream a little. Perfect compromise = happy family!
Prep time: 20 Minutes Marinating time: 2 Hours Cooking time: 45 Minutes $$ Low to Medium Budget
Serves 4
For the marinade:
800gm chicken thigh fillets, cut into large chunks
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3cm piece of ginger, grated
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup of greek yoghurt
2 tsp of ground cumin
2 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of chilli powder
1 tsp of garam masala
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
For the Sauce:
1 tbs of olive oil
20gm of butter
1 large brown onion, peeled, halved and sliced top to bottom
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of garam masala
1/2 cup of chicken stock
400gm tin of tomato puree
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
150ml of pure cream
100gm of baby spinach (optional but a meal is not complete without greens for me)
1 bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Coriander sprigs, steamed basmati rice and roti bread to serve.
Place the yoghurt, spices, lemon juice, garlic and ginger in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Pop the chicken chunks in and stir to coat, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This would be perfect to put together the night before so all you have to do when you get home from work is put the sauce together.
Heat a large frypan and add the oil and butter. Once the butter is melted and bubbling add the onion and fry until soft. Add the rest of the spices and fry for a further minute before pouring in the stock and tomato puree. Stir to combine and then add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper and bring the curry up to a simmer. Pop a lid on and simmer for approximately 35 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Remove the lid, stir in 100ml of the cream and the lemon juice and allow to reduce for 10 minutes.
Just before serving, pop in the spinach and coriander leaves and allow to wilt for a few minutes before stirring through and serving over a bed of steamed rice. Drizzle over the remaining cream, top with coriander sprigs and place some warmed roti breads on the side.
Yum! Thank you. My kids will love this one x
My kids love it too! Let me know what you think….
I made this last night & it was a massive hit. I only had time to marinade the chicken for 1 hr. Was still delish – next time will be even better 🙂
Glad you all liked it Sam x
Absolutely loved by all the family tonight, I added a cinnamon stick and some ground cashews. Boys have added that to the definitely make again list!
Another culinary triumph! So delicious!
Cheers Amanda! A staunch family fave in our house too x
I made this last night & it was aaaamazing!
Really easy too.
Thanks Em, this will be a regular thing in our house from now on.
Thanks Jacqui, so lovely to hear!
Another keeper. The chicken was so succulent and tasty
Yummy, Yum, Yum 🙂
This dish is excellent. My family want it added to the ‘again please mum’ list. I didn’t think they would eat it … my husband doesn’t like Indian food (as a result of bad experiences in India) – but he raved about it, as did the kids (who are quite fussy). I’ll definitely be making this again.
Em … you are my food saviour! Whenever I need inspiration I always come to your site for a winning meal. Thank you!
Thanks Pauline…..just what I like to hear! Cheers x
I have made this twice…..the first time to the letter, the second time minus the chilli and the lemon in the sauce. Delicious. EVERYBODY loved it, which is great – there are five of them to please.
Thank you, Em!!!