During my stay in Bangalore, I ventured out as I should, to Indian cooking classes. This is for me the best approach to understand the culinary spirit of a country.…]]>
Butter Chicken
During my stay in Bangalore, I ventured out as I should, to Indian cooking classes. This is for me the best approach to understand the culinary spirit of a country. I have taken classes all over the world, but not yet in India. It’s done with Manju, an Indian woman living in Bangalore whom I met through one of my colleagues. We will see a couple of recipes from Manju who has kindly agreed to let me publish them. Taking these courses allowed me to observe the gestures, to see the products used and to “desacralize” a little this cooking that I like so much, but that I had not really approached yet. For the first recipe, I propose this “butter chicken”, a chicken accompanied by a rich and delicious sauce with a thousand flavors. Tomatoes, onions, cashew nuts, spices… I suggest this recipe, because the ingredients are within everyone’s reach and will transport you 8000km away in a few minutes!Three ingredients are a little more unusual: garam massala, which is now found everywhere. The “garlic-ginger” paste that can be bought in exotic stores or Indian stores. However, you can prepare it yourself by mixing as much peeled garlic as peeled ginger. The third product (which may be optional for some) is “kasuri methi”. It is in fact dried leaves of fenugreek. You can find this ingredient either on the internet or in Indian grocery stores, or maybe in your garden! But at worst, we can do without it, which is a shame…!
Ingredients
For the chicken marinade:
- 500 g chicken
- 1/2 plain yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon garam massala
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon galic-ginger paste
For the sauce
- 50 g butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 onions
- 2 teaspoons garlic-ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 heaping teaspoon sugar
- 500 g tomato puree (or coulis depending on appellation)
- 80 g cashew nuts
- 50 g full cream
- marinated and grilled chicken
- a small handful kasuri methi
Instructions
- Put the chicken cut into pieces in a container. Add salt, garam massala, pepper, chili powder and oil. Add the half natural yogurt.
- Mix well and add the lemon juice.
- For the "garlic-ginger" paste, you can find it ready-made in exotic or Indian grocery stores. You can also make it yourself by mixing 50g of garlic and 50g of ginger, both peeled!
- Mix well, wrap in cling film and let sit overnight or overnight at best, or at least 3 hours.
- When the chicken has marinated long enough , heat a pan over high heat. Grill the pieces without the marinade sauce (which will probably be absorbed!) without adding anything to the pan.
- Turn them over and grill on the other side.
- When they are grilled on both sides, (without necessarily being cooked inside), put them in a plate the time to prepare the sauce.
- Cut the onions into coarse pieces and place in a blender.
- Blend to reduce to very small pieces. Be careful not to puree the onion!
- Heat butter and oil in a wok or large, high-sided skillet.
- Add onions and cook over moderate heat.
- Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
- The onions should start to color and have a nice amber color.
- Add the sweet paprika and the garlic-ginger paste.
- Mix well and cook for two minutes.
- Add tomato pulp and sugar.
- Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Put the cashews in a small blender or blender. Add half a glass of water to help grind the nuts. Blend until you get a kind of cream.
- Pour the contents into the sauce, put 200ml of water back into the blender bowl to rinse and pour the resulting water into the sauce (that way you don't lose anything!).
- Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken (with the juice it will probably have given back).
- Put the "kasuri methi" in a small frying pan over moderate heat and toast (without burning!!) the leaves.
- Simply crush the dried roasted leaves in the palm of your hands to obtain a powder. Sprinkle with sauce.
- Add the cream and cook until a very creamy sauce is obtained that coats the spoon generously.
- Serve with plain rice or rice with dried fruits (recipe coming soon) or a vegetable byriyani (recipe coming soon!).
Nutrition
Serving: 4peopleCalories: 545kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 17gFat: 44gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 749mgPotassium: 888mgFiber: 4gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 1271IUVitamin C: 25mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!