Tasty Butter Chicken

So here is the story of how Rini and I made butter chicken this past Sunday:

Rini the Brave took the bus out in the morning to get all the ingredients we needed. I call her the Brave because city buses are always... an adventure (let's just leave it at that). Unfortunately, I could not join her because I forgot to renew my student bus pass. So I anxiously awaited her arrival :)

We adapted our recipe from this one - many things were altered so here is a final version, complete with picture story. The whole process took about 2 hours, I think. But we were laughing and talking the whole time, so I really didn't keep track. My advice: make this dish with a friend and share the fun!

Rini's mom sent her to school with her spices in these cute little containers - such a good idea for easy storage and usage - you can buy in bulk and refill as you go!

First we made two pastes using a little oil and salt: one was ginger and one was garlic. We used about 2 1/2 inches of ginger and 6 cloves of garlic.

Then we fried 2 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced, until they were translucent.

We added the ginger and garlic pastes to the onion, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric (maybe a little more), and 2 tsp coriander powder. We cooked this for a minute, then added 3 large chicken breasts, cubed and 1 large Tbs of yogurt.

Once the chicken was seared on all sides, we add 4 large tomatoes which we pulverized in a grinder beforehand. We both decided that next time we make this, using only 3 tomatoes would be better. The mixture made so much we split it into two large pans.

At this point the curry looked really chunky - not like the butter chicken we are used to. We gave it about 10 minutes, then decided to take out the chicken pieces and puree the mixture until it was nice and smooth.

(seriously, you could add a touch of cream and serve this an amazing Indian soup)

Then we added this back to the pans, dropped 1 Tbs butter in each, put the chicken back in, and allowed the meal to simmer away until the chicken was tender: about 30 minutes.

Upon taste inspection, we decided the curry tasted waayyyy to tomato-y, so we ended up added another 1/3 cup of yogurt to each pot. Oh! We also added about 4 Tbs of butter total...

The result was wonderful: creamy and flavorful with the perfect amount of spice. Blending the curry was a great idea because it gave that silky consistency butter chicken is known for.

We ate this with rice, but naan would be great for scooping up the sauce!

Hodge-Podge Curry

So...it's hard to cook during the week when you've got class from 8am-2pm. Last weekend I decided I'd make one big meal over the week and eat it throughout - that way I get home-cooked food, but I also don't need to take time away from studying to eat it. It can be boring eating the same old thing day in and day out, though. So make something that's absolutely worth it :)

I haven't made a curry in AGES, so I decided on that. Thanks to a very nice person in my CERT program who drove me to the grocery store, I was able to go shopping for the necessary ingredients.

Here's what I did:

To make the curry, it's actually really, really easy. Fry about 1 tsp black peppercorns, cardamon pods, 1 cinnamon stick, some whole cloves, and a bay leaf until the cardamon pods start to puff up. I usually throw the spices into the hot oil and cover with a pot lid, then shake it- that way the hot oil doesn't burn me. Take the spices out of the frying pan when they're done and, in the same oil, saute 1 large onion, thinly sliced, and about 3 cloves of minced garlic. Let these get really crispy looking - this means they are sweeter which is always a delicious thing!

In a pot, let some coconut milk come to a simmer and add the spices and some yogurt. Then I added a can of garbanzo beans. Meat is expensive, and beans have some great nutrients in them - so this is a great hint. I also put in the leftover chicken I had saved from my stir-fry . You can also add tofu or feta cheese if you want. Let this whole thing cook on low heat for about 1 hour, adding some milk to thin it out as necessary.

Serve over rice or yogurt.

The best thing about curry/soup/stew is that it tastes better the longer it sits so by the time I finished my leftovers today, they were 5 x better than when I made the dish on Sunday. Not many food items have this special quality.

It's Labor Day weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to put up another post later this week!