Easy peasy Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is the national dish of Delhi (hahaha!). It's one of the foods I miss most from India. I got this recipe from a book and ammended it to make my own version.

Recipe 1: Easy peasy butter chicken

Really easy, do the prep work the night before, assemble in 5 minutes and pop in the oven for 1hr and 10 minutes before eating.

You need:
1 kg chicken (preferably thigh, preferably fillet - so no skin, no bone). Cut into manageable but fairly large pieces (basically each thigh should give you 2 -3 pieces).

In a blender blend 180gms of blanched amonds (can buy blanched and peeled from any supermarket), 6 cloves garlic, 2 inch piece of ginger, 1 green chilli (keep the seeds) and 3 tbsp of dahi (natural yogurt).

Put this mixture in a bowl, add 1 tsp chilli powder, 2 tsp dhania (corriander) powder, 1/2 tsp clove powder, 1.5 tsp salt, 1 tsp garam masala and another 3 tbsp of dahi (natural yogurt)(total 150gms dahi) and 1 can of chopped tomatoes (400gm can); mix well and then add the chopped up chicken. Mix lightly, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate.

On the day of serving, chop 1 large red onion & 1 green chilli. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok, fry chilli and onion till golden brown. Add chicken mixture and turn lightly with a spatula for about 4 minutes (all on high heat). Almost nothing will be seared by this time but never mind!

Put it in a big baking dish. Add 6 tsp chopped dhania (corriander) leaves and 4 tbsp of double cream. Mix lightly with a fork so that all this gets mixed in well. Do not cover. Pop in pre-heated oven at about 200 deg C. Bake for 1 hour. At the end of 1 hour take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. All the oil and extra juice will come to the top: spoon this off. Serve with naan.

It's incredibly moist and tasty.

Enjoy!

I will try and add a picture next time I make it. In the meantime, trust me and try it!