Butter Chicken

I love Indian food. One of my best friends at university was from India and introduced me to these flavors way back when. During two trips to India her family showed me many of their favorite recipes. I altered this recipe by comparing this to the vegan recipe and the recipe I carried from India, to make it easier to prepare for my teenage nephews, but nothing is missed! *If you prefer a more traditional butter chicken swap out all the vegetables. For the sauce, swap out the salt and replace with salted butter and replace the full fat coconut milk, with heavy cream. We love both the chicken and vegan version of this recipe.

Oven roasting Marinade:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

4 teaspoons garam masala

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

2 inches fresh ginger, minced (approx. 2 Tablespoons)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lime, juiced

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 red bell pepper

handful of button mushrooms, quartered

1 medium potato, cut into 1/2" wide strips

1 large red onion

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine the yogurt with all the spices: garam masala, sea salt, cumin, and cayenne.

3. Add 2 minced garlic cloves to the yogurt mixture.

4. Carefully mince the ginger and add to the yogurt, stirring to combine all.

5. Juice the lime and add to the yogurt mixture.

6. Slice the chicken thighs into strips, removing and excess fat and place into the yogurt mixture.

7. Chop the red bell peppers into 1/4” wide strips.

8. Chop the button mushrooms into quarters.

9. Chop the potato into bite-sized, 1/2” strips.

10. Chop the onion into 8 wedges, leaving the layers together.

11. Mix in the sliced vegetables and chicken and stir to coat all the pieces.

12. Tip onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spread evenly in a single layer.

13. Roast the vegetables & chicken between 20-30 minutes or until you can pierce a potato and it's fork tender & the chicken if cooked through.

14. While the vegetables are roasting, make the butter sauce. 

Butter Sauce

1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons minced ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 (14oz.) can diced tomatoes, or 5 fresh Roma tomatoes

2 Tablespoons garam masala

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 Tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder (substitute: 2 teaspoons paprika & 1 teaspoon cayenne)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup red lentils

1 lime, juiced

1 cup water

1 cup canned full fat coconut milk

Cilantro, for serving

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan and once the oil shimmers add the onion, minced garlic and ginger and cook 2-3 minutes.

2. Stir in the can of tomatoes (or fresh chopped tomatoes) and cook 5 minutes.

3. Then add the remaining spices: garam masala, cumin, Kashmiri chili powder and sea salt. Saute 1 minute, stirring frequently.

4. To the saucepan add: red lentils, lime juice, water, coconut milk and canned tomatoes. Cook approximately 15 minutes to allow flavors to combine and the red lentils to cook through. Blend the sauce using an immersion blender.

5. Taste to adjust seasoning if needed. Add additional coconut milk or canned tomatoes if you like.

6. Serve the roasted chicken vegetables over basmati rice and top with the blended sauce and chopped cilantro. Enjoy.