Friday, December 15, 2006

Butter Chicken?

This is an easy "Indian" dinner. I certainly tastes Indian, but I don't know if it's authentic in anyway. But tasty it is...and easy. I think you could get away without whirling everything in the processor if you don't have one. When making your rice, throw a chunk of ginger and some cardamom if you have it...Mmmmm!


Indian Butter Chicken

From Safeway Select Magazine (yep, from the check out at Safeway)

1 onion, peeled/chopped
2 TB fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 TB olive oil
2 tsp garam masala
1 6oz can tomato paste
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup whipping cream
1 ½ lb chicken, boneless/skinless breast cut in ¾ inch pieces
Salt/Pepper
2 TB unsalted butter

For Serving:
Rice
Chopped cilantro

In a large pan, combine onion, ginger, jalapeno and oil. Stir often over high heat until onion is lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Stir in garam masala. Scrape mixture into a blender; add tomato paste and chicken broth. Whirl until very smooth. Pour mixture back into pan, add cream and bring to a gentle boil over high heat (will splatter). Lower heat and simmer, stirring often, until reduced to 3 cups, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce into a bowl Rinse and dry pan.

Season chicken with salt & pepper. Set pan over high heat; add 1 TB butter and chicken. Stir until chicken is no longer pink on the surface, 2-3 minutes. Add the sauce and simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until chicken is no longer pink in center, 3-4 minutes. Cut remaining butter into chunks and stir into sauce until melted.

Spoon chicken and sauce into rice. Add salt to taste. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

8 comments:

Barbara said...

Yum, that's one of my favorite Indian dishes!

Dancer in DC said...

This is great for those that avoid spicier Indian food. It's really no "hotter" than your average paprika dish.

Make extra rice! Great for eating with all the extra sauce.

ScottE. said...

Barbara...so is this 'authentic?' I've never seen it on an Indian menu. It certainly tasted Indian and it was really tasty.

There was another note I wanted to make...??? Oh, I used about 3/4 of a pound of chicken. That worked for two people for dinner. Did the same amount of the rest. Well, perhaps a bit more ginger, just for good luck.

Also, when you stir in the garam masala, it will dry out everything in your pan. This is good. It gives the spice a minute to toast in the pan the oil. Instead of just scraping into the mixer, I added 1/2 of the broth prior, to scrape up the goodies in the pan and make sure that was all blended into the sauce.

And again, if you want this a bit more rustic, or if you don't have a processor, I don't think you HAVE to whiz it. Just finely chop your onion and pepper and grate the ginger.

One more point. I made this early. It was finished about an hour before we had dinner. It holds really well and at a very low simmer just keeps getting tastier and tastier!

Anonymous said...

That does look good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Anonymous said...

Scott, I'm heading to D.C. during restaurant week. Wanted to know if you wanted to meet up to talk food? Sorry I had to post this here -- I can't find your e-mail address anywhere. E-mail me if you're interested and we can figure out a place to go. jkschuler@gmail.com

btw -- chicken looks great. wish i had more of an appreciation for indian cuisine, though.

Anonymous said...

That looks really good!

Barbara said...

Scott, I don't know if that recipe is authentic or not. I've only eaten Butter Chicken at a restaurant. Your picture looks like the real thing though.

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