Butter Chicken

Rav's Note:

With a lot of time and effort, I was able to coax this recipe from the owner of a local Indian restaurant. The restaurant is known for their Butter Chicken. They use a clay oven for cooking, most of us don't have that luxury and a barbeque will suffice. Some caution, this dish is extremely rich, use it for those special occasions.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ¼ lb melted butter
• 1 (20 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• ¼ liter whipping cream
• water
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon ginger powder
• minced red chili peppers or green chili pepper (according to taste)
• minced ginger , sauted (according to taste)
• fresh cilantro
• chicken breasts marinated in tandoori paste (found in Indian markets or ethnic section)

Directions:

1. Cook marinated chicken on barbeque or oven.
2. Cut into chunks once done.
3. Melt the butter.
4. Add in tomato sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper, parsley and whipping cream.
5. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring often.
6. Add water according to desired thickness.
7. Mixture should not be runny or too thick- should be thick enough to coat a spoon.
8. Add in garlic powder, chili pepper(s) and ginger powder, stir.
9. Add chicken chunks to mixture.
10. Stir in sauted ginger and fresh cilantro.
11. These are optional ingredients, adjust use according to taste.
12. Stir mixture until chicken is thoroughly coated.
13. Remove from heat.
14. Butter chicken is traditionally eaten with an Indian bread called'naan'.
15. It can also be eaten on a bed of rice.

Reviews

[Rav]

Though I posted the original recipe from the restaurant, I actually make changes when I cook this dish. I cut the chicken into chunks first, marinate them overnight and then cook them in the oven (if I do the chicken on the bbq, I keep the pieces whole). I also find that the dish is quite rich, so I substitute some or all of the whip cream with yoghurt. I use 1 green chilli pepper and for the water I usually only add 1 cup. I omit the sautéed ginger. Of course, everyone's taste is different, so adapt it to whatever you prefer......

[Ranikabani]

This was a nice dish on its own but I felt like it needed some onions, more garlic and I found it a bit too salty. The flavour wasn't what I was looking for either.

[Michellew]

My family loved this! I made the recipe as is and the only thing I would change is the noted amount of salt. Made it rather salty once everything was together. The chicken I bought from our local store already marinating in their own tandoori marinade. As for water, used only about 1/2 cup and about 1/4 tsp red chili peppers (wanted my kids to eat this dish too). Since I didn't have such a big can of tomato sauce, used about 16 ozs tomato sauce and the rest crushed tomatoes. I think I would also add a sauteed sliced onion and fresh garlic to this next time.