Butter Chicken

This recipe is based on Vijaya's Butter Chicken which I found on Youtube. I generally eyeball the amounts and I don't think I have ever made it exactly as she describes, but this is the basis.

Butter Chicken

Preparation Time: ~20 mins
Cooking time: 30min-1hr
Servings: 4

Vijaya's original recipe is very simple but also incredibly rich. Because her recipe is so simple, it is easy to play around with the ingredients. I have cut down on the butter and cream so I can enjoy this dish more often. :)

Chicken:

• ~1/2-1 cup Plain Yogurt (enough to coat the chicken)
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Ground Red Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
  
• 1 tsp Turmeric
  
• 1/2 tsp Salt
  


• 400-600g Chicken thighs or breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• ~3 tbsp Ghee or oil, for frying
  

Sauce:

• ~100-200g Butter
• ~250ml Tomato puree
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
  
• 2 tbsp Dried Methi (Fenugreek) Leaves and/or Dhania (Coriander) leaves (I use equal amounts of both)
• ~150-200ml Cooking cream
  
• Salt to taste
  

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients for the marinade in a bowl, cover and marinate overnight, or a minimum of 2 hours.

In a large pan, add ghee or oil and heat on high. Add chicken in batches, ensuring not to crowd the pan, and sear on all sides, creating a deep brown crust. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Using the same pan, melt butter and add Tomato Sauce, Sugar, Red Chili, 1 tbsp of Methi/Dhania Leaves, and Garam Masala.

Stir and scrape the fond leftover from frying the chicken in the pan.

Continue to cook until tomatoes reduce, thicken, and butter begins to separate (approximately 15-20 minutes).

Add remaining Butter, Cream (reserving a few tablespoons), and Salt to taste.

Return chicken to pan, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with remaining Dried Methi/Coriander Leaves (fresh if you have it), and a drizzle of Cream.

Notes:

• Instead of frying the chicken, you can also air-fry/grill for ~15-20 mins at 200°C, turning halfway. I put mine on skewers in the air fryer.
• Optionally, you can fry some chopped onions, garlic and ginger (chopped very fine) in the fond from cooking the chicken as the basis for the for the sauce.
• Optionally, also add coriander powder to the sauce.
• Optionally add 1-2 tsp of Durban curry powder to both the marinade and the sauce. Regular curry powder + red chilli powder should also work.

If you want to make this healthier, start the sauce with ~3 tbsp yoghurt instead of cream and add cream to taste. Alternatively, substitute the cream for coconut cream. You can also substitute the butter with margarine or coconut oil.