Butter Me Up Chicken

I decided to take this one step further and see how hard it would be to whip this up from scratch. Surprisingly, there is not a lot of butter in this dish. There are a lot of spices, but don’t let that throw you off. The spice mix smells really fragrant and is used half in the marinade and half cooked into the sauce.

Diwali, or the festival of lights is one of the most important Hindu festival celebrations in the world. The world Diwali means a row of lighted oil lamps (although there is not a lot of oil in this recipe). Celebrations and festivals mean sharing meals with friends, so in honour of the upcoming Diwali celebration, October 30, here is “Butter Me Up Chicken”. [Note: it has been pointed out to me by one reader (thank you!) that Hindus are vegetarians, so they wouldn’t eat Butter Chicken. My bad. You could substitute the chicken for chickpeas and cauliflower and prepare the same way.]

Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time: 75 minutes; Serves: 4-6

What you need:

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) boneless skinless thigh or breasts (cut into 1″  pieces)
• 1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (you can use regular plain yogurt, but Greek-style is nice and thick)
• 1/2 lemon juiced (roughly 3 tbsp lemon juice)
• 2 tbsp  garam marsala
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp fenugreek powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 + 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger (or minced ginger) (divided)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 medium onions diced
• 1 796ml can tomatoes crushed (you may want to use less)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• cilantro

What you do:

• Cut chicken into pieces, roughly 1″

• Mix all your spices in a  small bowl

Marinate your chicken: 

• In a large bowl, add lemon juice
• Add 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
• Add 2 cloves minced garlic
• Add 1/2 of the small bowl of spice mix
• Add the greek yogurt

• Stir together

• Add chicken, and stir to coat
• Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes to overnight

Make your sauce:

• Finely dice your onions, and mince 2 cloves garlic
• In a deep saucepan, over medium-high heat, add the butter and olive oil

• When butter/oil mix is hot, add onions, garlic and saute until soft and almost caramelized (about 15 minutes, I know this take a long time, but it is worth it)

• Add your 1/2 tbsp chopped ginger, stir about 1 minute

• Add the remaining spice mix and stir 1 minute to lightly cook the spices

• Add your chicken in the marinade and cook, about 15 minutes, until chicken is sealed

• Add the can of crushed tomatoes, stir
• Increase heat to bring to a boil and then turn down to low, put a lid on an angle so the pot is fully covered and simmer for 30 minutes [ELIN’S TIP: start your rice at this point.]

• Add cream and stir to incorporate
• Salt and pepper to taste

• Garnish with chopped cilantro (unless you are having dinner with Pete, then skip the cilantro, he hates the stuff)
• Serve with rice and naan bread