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!

Searching for the Best Indian Food In Richmond

Anokha in Short Pump is one of my friend's favorite restaurants. And since I'd been craving Indian for the past, oh, 3 months or so, she planned a little outing to Short Pump. It happened to be on the rainiest day I've ever experienced in Richmond, but that didn't stop us. A packed restaurant full of kids and family gatherings? Didn't stop us either. So the four of us arrived hungry and from my end, excited to find an Indian place in Richmond which matches the caliber of Shalimar in Ann Arbor.

For $9 (the lunch special) we got a starter of soup or salad, an entree, and a dessert. I chose the daal which I highly enjoyed. The flavor was great and the lentils weren't chunky, but nice and smooth.

I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala, apparently their most popular dish. It was very tasty - the sauce was great and perfect for dipping naan into - which, but the way, they also add at no extra cost. I had heard the heat scale was a little high, so I ordered mild - next time I'll go for medium. Apparently I can handle my heat better than I thought :) The chicken was tender, too, and the flavor had gotten into the meat. It was sooo good - I could go for a few extra pieces, in fact. I bet the dinner portions are larger. One of the nice things about Anokha is that they'll refill your rice, too - which was really great since I like a high rice-to-sauce ratio. Oh! and the $9 includes a side dish Chef's special - our day was okra and sauteed onions. It was amazing and probably my favorite thing of the meal. Nice and spicy - I snagged Emilija's since she wasn't planning on taking it home and I knew a good place for it...my tummy.

For dessert we had a mango pudding which I didn't like very much - I am not a pudding person in general. But one of the girls who came is in LOVE with it, so it didn't go to waste!

If you have a Richmond Indian favorite, pass it along because I'd love to taste around!