Little Anne's Butter Chicken

Hard work at the gym (more or less) should be rewarded with Indian-style butter chicken. Zero guilt (still falsely convinced by that).

Since we are all practicing social distancing and avoid going out, why not make our own butter chicken, right?

The coriander is a must!

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Serving: 4-5 pax

Time: 1-2 hr (1.5 hr for rest and remaining for cooking)

Ingredients:

Marinade

• 600-800g boneless chicken breast, cubed

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 5 cloves garlic, blend to paste

• 1/4 onion, blend to paste

• 1 1/2 inch ginger, minced

• 1 tspn turmeric powder

• 2 tspn curry powder (ideally garam masala, but it works with curry powder too!)

• 1 tspn cumin powder

• 1 1/2 tspn red chili powder (I used Korean chili powder)

• 1/2 tbspn pink salt

Butter Sauce

• 1 1/2 tbspn olive oil

• 2 1/4 tbspn ghee

• 3/4 onion, minced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1-inch ginger, minced

• 2 pinch cumin

• 2 pinch garam masala (optional)

• 2 pinch coriander powder

• 1 pinch fenugreek (optional)

• 2 fresh tomatoes, pureed

• 200 g cooking cream

• Red chili powder, to taste

• 25g butter

• Salt and sugar to taste

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Preparation:

A. Chicken Marinade

1. Marinating the chicken. Cut the boneless chicken breast into bite-size and place in a bowl. Add in yogurt and mix well and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

2. Add garlic, onion, ginger, curry powder (or garam masala), turmeric powder, cumin, red chili powder, and salt into the chicken. Mix well.

3. Let it rest for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

B. Butter Sauce (Part I)

1. In a medium-high heat pan, add olive oil and 2 tbspn of ghee. As the butter melts, add onion and stir for about 4 minutes before adding garlic and ginger.

2. Stir for another 2 minutes and add in cumin, coriander, and garam masala.

3. Once fragrant, add pureed tomatoes and stir well. Add a bit of water (gradually) if the sauce is too thick)

4. After 5 minutes, add cream gradually while constantly stirring.

5. Add salt, sugar, and red chili powder to taste.

6. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

C. Cook Chicken

1. While waiting for the butter sauce to simmer slowly, in a separate hot pan, deep fry the chicken for about 2 minutes on each side. You do not want the chicken to be dry and it is not intended to be crispy. Color should be as pictured below

2. Set aside in a bowl.

D. Butter Sauce (Part II)

1. Add the fried chicken into the sauce and let it simmer for another 4-5 minutes until it bubbles.*

2. Add in the butter and 1/4 tbspn of ghee into the sauce. Stir well.

3. Turn off heat and garnish with fresh coriander.

Voila! Butter chicken ready to be served with your choice of naan or basmati rice.

Enjoy

*If you have any extra chicken (or you think the chicken you have prep is a bit too much as compared to the sauce you have made) that has not been fried yet, you can add a little bit more salt and fry to enjoy it as it is. Taste wonderful with our yogurt sauce.