Butter Chicken in a Silky Sauce
Alison Mollenhauer was right on when she named the recipe she submitted for the Primal Blueprint Reader-Created Cookbook Contest “Butter Chicken” instead of simply “Chicken Curry”. Yes, the recipe has spices like garam marsala, cumin and cardamom. Yes, the air in your kitchen will be heavy with the enticing aroma of curry. But it’s the silky, rich, lick-the-back-of-your-spoon texture that really stands out in this dish. The credit goes to a generous amount of butter and the addition of cream or coconut milk, mellowing the spices and turning this fairly simple dish into something luxurious. The moist, tender meat of chicken thighs can take some credit too, as the chicken practically melts in your mouth with each bite.
For this recipe, Alison uses a marinating technique that makes the chicken as tender and flavorful as possible and you can too if you “do” dairy. Marinating meat in Greek-style yogurt (or other acidic dairy products like buttermilk) breaks down the enzymes in meat and tenderizes the protein. A yogurt marinade is especially great with meat that leans towards dry or tough, like chicken breast or lamb. In the case of chicken thighs the marinade adds additional flavor and tenderness, but since dark meat tends to be tender anyway those of you who don’t love dairy can skip the yogurt and still end up with a really tasty meal.
As the sauce bubbles on your stove, lean in and inhale. Even with all the spices milling around you might be able to detect the distinct aroma of the cardamom pods. Although cardamom is part of the ginger family, it will probably remind you of cinnamon or nutmeg, as they share the same sweet-spicy aroma. Inside each pod are dozens of little seeds that will flavor the dish; the pods will pretty much dissolve as they cook so there is no need to remove them at the end. (If you buy ground cardamom seeds instead of the pods, use it sparingly in this recipe. A little goes a long way.)
Alison’s recipe feeds her family of five with leftovers remaining, and we can’t think of a good reason to cut the recipe in half even if you’re not feeding that many. Butter Chicken is the perfect dish to make in large quantities and eat over the course of several days. The flavors will just keep getting richer and that buttery, creamy texture even more irresistible.
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds chicken thighs, chopped into 1-inch cubes
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 3 teaspoons ground coriander
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 cup Greek-style (thick) yogurt
- 7 tablespoons butter, chopped1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 6 cardamom pods (crush pods slightly to release seeds and more flavor)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 1/2 cup cream or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander, coarsely chopped
Instructions:
Combine chicken, garlic, spices and yogurt in a covered container. Refrigerate for an hour or two.
Melt butter in a deep pan. Add vinegar, tomato paste, tomatoes, cardamom and cinnamon. Boil rapidly, stirring until sauce is thick (approximately 20 minutes).
Reduce heat to a simmer and add chicken. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through. Add cream or coconut milk, simmer a few minutes more, and garnish with chopped cilantro.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
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Oh, heaven.
My my.
looks and sounds absolutely delicious!
Shan spice packets will get to the same place without the cost…gotta go to an Indian market to get ‘em though. Use the “tandoori” chicken mix for this recipe.
If anyone has traveled through India – one would have noticed ‘Butter Chicken’ is THE National dish in Northern India. No menu of any local eatery, big or small, is complete without Butter chicken.
Alison recipe is great, here is a slight variation as learned from a star rated Indian chef..
After marinating the chicken as directed, grill it in an oven or on a gas/charcoal grill.
Puree the tomatoes and cook them till all the liquids evaporate – now add the grilled chicken and butter, simmer for a while – finish by adding cream or coconut milk.
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pureed tomatoes can be cooked in bulk and frozen. If you ever have leftover grilled chicken, just combine the cooked frozen tomato puree and butter etc. and you can have Butter chicken in a snap.. Enjoy !!
My Indian friend told me that butter chicken started as making a meal out of leftovers and because of that it’s still looked down at in many parts of India; however, in West, it’s synonymous with Indian food!
Elle – check Shan spice packets ‘ingredients list’ before you buy. They used to contain loads of MSG – lately I have noticed they do not mention MSG but do mention sodium content upwards of a thousand mg per tsp. Best to mix your own spices as Mark has done from virgin material.
yummmmmmm
Do you know if it freezes well? This may be a great dish to make on the weekend, then use later in the week. I’m making this week. Yummm.
Wow, that looks so delicious I can’t believe it. I better go eat something, I must be hungry!
I will be eating this…. soon.
I love Indian food and this recipe looks AMAZING! Very well done indeed!
This will be part of my meal plan for next week.
I second that. This recipe looks absolutely amazing.
YUM! That goes in the keeper file.
my oh my… Last night I cooked thighs, trying to make up my own recipe to submit, then I see this the next morning. This is one I will print & file for use over & over…
I’m afraid to try butter chicken with a coconut milk base. Can anyone attest to it being good?
Oh my gosh Chaohinon, coconut milk base is AWESOME in butter chicken. I think it really tempers the spices, so it still has a spicy kick but a smooth creamyness to it also. I don’t know if that makes sense but trust me, it’s AMAZING!
I’ve been eating Paleo for about 3 months now, and I have always been told no yogurt or butter, as they are dairy based. Help me out here.
@ Diana, this is a Primal recipe…”primal” vs “paleo” allows delicious saturated fats such as butter. Read http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-the-difference-between-primal-and-paleo/
I am cooking this tomorrow night. My mouth is watering just reading the recipe!!!
Oh wow, guess what I will be eating for dinner!
I am so making this next weekend.
Heaven. I love the long list of spices. I am learning how to mix spices as time goes on but I am not quite there. I will have to make this soon!
Funny that you published this recipe yesterday, cause I was looking for a recipe with chicken and found that recipe directly on the main site.
Cooked it yesterday. Had all of the ingredients at home. Never happens when I look up recipes
Was good and rich as I like it, but not as good as I thought it would be. Wonder if anybody has some improvements on this recipe.
My wife made this last night and it was excellent. Looking forward to the leftovers.
Compliments to the creator of this recipe! It was absolutely yummy!
I too look forward to tomorrow’s left overs!
I made this last night and it was fantastic. My 11yo son took one bite and murmured “Oh my god” and my daughter piped in “yeah, mom, this is amazing” WIN! Also, it was mild enough spice-wise that my 19mo baby ate it (and ate it and ate it) with no problems.
Did anyone have trouble finding the cardamon pods?
I found them at an Asian supermarket (along with every possible spice under the sun, I love walking around there
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Just made this today — nummy!!
I just tried this recipe tonight. A couple of things needs to be noted:
If you have trouble with finding cardamon pods (or cardamon for that matter), use nutmeg.
For those who like spicy foods you may want to add a little salt AND some cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
After I put the chicken in the butter sauce as instructed the water in the chicken made the sauce “soupy”. I had to add a little stock to make it thick again. After I did that, the family loved it.
I made it for dinner too. Mine turned out the same way, soupy. But was able to thicken it up. I added chili pepper flakes to my dish and it needed salt too. Everyone liked it. Yea!
Look very good. Thanks. I would a bit of turmeric though.
Interestingly, turmeric isn’t really necessary in this dish since it helps with digesting legumes. Plus, many garam masala blends include tumeric.
I made this for dinner yesterday. It was great. I skipped the tomatoes added a head of cauliflower cut up into the mix and it was fantastic.
I made this last night. I ate it over cauliflower, boyfriend ate it over rice. It was DELICIOUS. The only thing I would change for next time is adding lots of veggies to it while it is cooking. Mine was also soupy so the veggies would thicken it up. Plus, I am partial to one dish meals (rather than an entree + veggie side dish).
What veggies would you add? I thought the same things (a bit soupy, which would be great if you wanted to stretch it out and make a sort of soup with it, also a love of the meat+veggie meals).
I’d add maybe more tomatoes (well-drained), okra, maybe some cauliflower?
Thoughts? This recipe is absolutely the yummiest thing. It’s now a staple in our house.
Mine came out very soupy also. I’m thinking there may be a difference between everyone’s version of “large” tomatos. Also, my butter seems to be separating from the sauce. It did taste good, I think the enhancements of veggies, a bit of salt, and more cayenne would be perfect. I’m going to add more chicken and spices tonight and continue cooking it down.
I found all the spices at Natural Grocers (Vitamin Cottage). Also, the last line, freshly chopped coriander, is cilantro, just for those of us who don’t know they are the same thing… : )
You know the recipe called for only 1TBSP of vinegar. I think if you added 1-2 more tablespoons it would be tangier. I thought it was missing something – I think it was that. Plus it needs more heat like cayenne pepper.
I am going to be picking up the ingredients for this recipe this week! I am going to add additional veg, and I was thinking, eggplant, bell peppers, zucchini and probably cauliflower.
I stumbled upon Mark’s MDA a few weeks ago and have just started reading up. I like a lot of what he says (preaches) but unfortunately coming from the Paleo lifestyle I’m not sure exactly how this dish made it into the wild.
Granted, it’s delicious (my wife and I made it this evening), but even so I’m not quite sure we can ever eat it again. I (mainly for fun, partially to keep myself honest) use about.com’s calorie counter (http://caloriecount.about.com) and for kicks inputed in our slightly varied (read: healthier) version of this recipe, much to our dismay.
Screenshot attached of the nutritional information, but the short of it is even with modified amounts of fat in the recipe (reduced butter, etc) our total calorie count for the recipe is 3070 calories (614/serving *5 total servings): (screen shot: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/417848/MDA%20Buttery%20Chicken.png)
When ONE serving has 50% of your daily allocated values of fat (and mind you, I’ve kicked up the fat after going paleo and reading MDA) and 75% of your saturated fats, not to mention 75% of your daily cholesterol allotment… and once again mind you, I know I didn’t eat just one serving of this… something’s gotta be done!
I figure if we make this again we’re going much leaner on the meat (boneless, skinless lean lean chicken) and going to tone down or eliminate the butter all together. I understand that the recipe is “Butter Chicken” but pl-ease, that’s one heck of a calorie dense meal (and unfortunately not very filling for this Grok).
Formatting error on that screen shot, looks like the last parenthesis was included for some reason…
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/417848/MDA%20Buttery%20Chicken.png
Made it with a side of masala veggies and cauliflower instead of rice. Pretty damn good! I think I went a little heavy on the tomatoes, oops
Still, I’d give it a 8 on 10.
I’m making this right now!!!
My chicken is marinading right now! Butter chicken from the Indian takeaway is a favourite with the 2 men in my house so I am under some pressure to make it good lol. I already added turmeric partly to at least make it LOOK like the takeaway version lol and partly because, well turmeric is good for you. Anyway, thanks to everyone that’s left comments so far, it helps with my own preparation.
Here’s looking forward to a scrummy meal tonight. I’ll let you know what my “judges” think
I’m new to PB lifestyle and cooking and was wondering how many servings this makes?
Also, who can tell me the grams/kgs of roughly how much protein i should have per meal..eg, chicken, beef, fish…i don’t think i am having enough..
Thanks to Resurgent for the great tip to grill the chicken- I just tried that and it added a whole new dimension to the dish. I’m in butter chicken heaven!
My top tip is to make sure that you reduce the sauce down until it’s nice and thick as this intensifies your flavours. (Your sauce will be a vibrant orange red colour.) It’s correct that the sauce will “split” or that the oil separates and that’s the beauty of Indian curries.
Don’t substitute the cardamon- it’s got a gorgeous and very unique flavour- my concern with nutmeg is that is can easily overpower the other ingredients. And by all means, season away- my husband always adds extra salt to his plate!
For those concerned about the calories and fat- just serve it with heaps of vegies on the side- you should be able to feed at least 8 hungry adults with this recipe.
Finally, thanks to everyone who tried the recipe.
You guys had me going — I was really confused by the recipe calling for “1/2 cup of fresh coriander, coarsely chopped”. I was wondering where I was going to find a coriander plant. Thank goodness you post photos of the ingredients so I saw it was supposed to be cilantro
This was a big hit for us! We added sliced red pepper and a touch of Cajun salt. The meat was very tender – thanks for the recipe!
I LOVE this recipe! Served it over rice. I added a teeny tiny bit of salt to it at the end, but otherwise no changes. Chicken was tender and full of flavour. It did come out a little soupy though, wondering how to change this. Also wondering the difference in results between using cream vs coconut milk.
But I found it was even better on its leftover days! Sooo good.
Cooked this with the coconut milk, added a teaspoon or two of salt at the end, and substituted chili powder with about 2 or 3 teaspoons of chopped peri-peri (preserved chilies).
When I added the chicken to the sauce, it looked as if there was not enough liquid in the pot. I was anxious that the chicken on the bottom would burn and the chicken on the top would not cook. So I added a little more butter and tomato paste to get it going.
Great recipe, it comes very close to the Butter Chicken served by a popular curry house down the street from me. I think they add more tomato paste to their recipe, as their sauce is almost red.
Mine also came out soupy even though I used less coconut milk (I was using the remains of a container from something else. I left out the tomatoes, too, (son doesn’t like them and I don’t like to peel tomatoes), but I added a bit of extra tomato paste to compensate. I served this over steamed cauliflower florets. I added salt to mine at the table, as well as some Tabasco sauce. I’ll add red chili flakes to the sauce next time.
I’m having this for lunch today, over steamed cauliflower and chard ribbons.
Gina,
Coriander and cilantro are the same plant. In Europe I think both the leaves and seeds are called coriander, but in the US, both names are used, though I think cilantro is more prevalent (Mexican influence?). I’ve always seen the seeds called coriander, though.
This is a wonderful staple dish of Indian Cuisine where it is also named “Butter Chicken”. It is a good choice when needing to eat out.
Another thought for vegeterians, replace the chicken with uncooked sweet potato cubes it is fabulous.