hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to South Asian Indian cuisine, with a shot at a classic curry dish known as butter chicken. For those not familiar, butter chicken most prominently features a yogurt marinated piece of chicken, then simmered in a tomato and cream based sauce for a rich, thick, and aromatic curry. Although butter chicken is often mistaken for its equally popular counterpart known as tikka masala, butter chicken stands apart for its silky smooth sauce base and of course, its use of ghee, or clarified butter. 

Unlike the world of Chinese and Taiwanese wok cooking that we often swim in on this channel, South Asian Indian cooking lives less in the world of high heat flash cooking, and more commonly in the universe of slow cooking, braising, and low and slow simmering heat. And although butter chicken does in fact feature a long and slow simmer, it also poses an interesting juxtaposition of the cuisine, in that it most prominently features a tandoori chicken, which is iconically roasted at very high heats in a in a tandoor oven, of which of course...we don't have one. So! We'll be diving into my best attempt at reproducing the smokey roasted qualities of the tandoor clay oven, here at home, on a normal home range cook top. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 medium chicken thighs

  • 2 cups heavy cream

  • 4 tbsp ghee

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

  • 1 cup yogurt

  • 1 tsp turmeric

  • 1 tsp cumin

  • 1 tsp coriander

  • 1 tbsp chili powder

  • 1 tbsp garam masala

  • 1 tbsp garlic powder

  • 1 tbsp ginger powder

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

  • 8 cloves garlic

  • 2 inches (about 2 tbsp) ginger

  • 4 green serano chiles

  • 1/2 cup cashews

  • 28 oz canned roma tomatoes

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 2 tbsp garam masala

  • 2 tbsp chili powder

  • 1 tsp cumin

  • 1 tsp coriander powder

  • 1 tbsp brown sugar

INGREDIENTS (spices)

  • 1 stick cinnamon

  • 4 cardamom pods

  • 1 tbsp clove

PREP

  • LARGE DICE the chicken thighs, then combine with all marinade ingredients, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight

  • ADD the garlic, ginger, chiles, and cashews to a food processor, then blitz into a powder

  • ADD the remaining sauce ingredients and blitz until a smooth puree forms

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a wok over medium low heat, add all spices and dry toast for 3-5 minutes until fragrant, then remove and tie into a cheesecloth pouch

  • HEAT the wok over medium heat, add 4 tbsp ghee and long yao

  • ADD the chicken 20-30 pieces at a time and sear for 2 minutes undisturbed, then toss with the wok tilted downward toward the open flame for wok hei

  • REDUCE the heat to low, then add the chicken back to the wok

  • ADD the sauce puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove pulp, then add the heavy cream and mix to combine

  • ADD the spice bag, then let simmer for 30 minutes or up to two hours

  • SEASON with kosher salt to taste once the curry is fully reduced, and finish with heavy cream

 

tagged with butter chicken, chicken makhani, murgh makhani, tikka masala, curry, curry recipe, indian curry, indian food, indian cooking, indian recipe, woo can cook, tandoori chicken