The chicken marinade can be prepared the day before making this dish
Recipe by Claire Ferrandi
Photograph by Dylan Swart
The best-ever butter chicken
Ingredients
MARINADE
- 500g skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 80g full-cream Greek/plain yoghurt
SAUCE
- olive oil, to fry
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 20g fresh ginger, unpeeled and finely grated
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds/methi seeds (optional)
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander + extra, to serve
- 2 tsp masala/curry powder/smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 500ml (2 cups) tomato purée
- 250ml (1 cup) fresh cream
- handful chopped fresh coriander, to serve
- naan bread/cooked
- basmati rice, to serve
Instructions
For the marinade, combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate to marinate, at least 4 hours or overnight for best results.
For the sauce, drizzle a little olive oil into a large pot over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp of the butter. Once the butter has melted, sauté the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and fenugreek/methi seeds (if using) in the pot until the onion is translucent. Add the spices and stir to combine, then add the tomato paste and allow to cook, 5 – 10 minutes. Add the tomato purée and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, then stir in the cream and remaining 2 tbsp butter. Remove from the heat and set aside in the pot.
In a frying pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil over high heat and fry the chicken pieces for 5 – 10 minutes until golden brown. Add the browned chicken to the sauce and combine gently.
Place the butter chicken in a serving bowl and sprinkle the chopped coriander and a little ground coriander over. Serve with naan bread or basmati rice alongside.
Imka Webb is a freelance digital marketing expert and the digital editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine. www.imkawebb.com
