RECIPE TITLE "Butter Chicken" Author: Joanne

serves 4 to 6 2 hrs difficult

  RECIPE INGREDIENTS

• Onions (2 very large, finely chopped)
• Oil (2 Tbsp)
• Butter (1 cuboid)
• Garlic (crushed/chopped, 1.5 tsp)
• Ginger (finely chopped, 1.5 tsp)
• Garam Masala (2 Tbsp or more)
• Tomatoes (4 medium, chopped)
• Tomato paste/sauce (1 small can)
• Sour cream (5 heaped Tbsp)
• Milk (0.5 cup)
• Cilantro/coriander leaves (arbitrary quantity)
• Salt (to taste)
• Red chilli powder/ paprika (to taste)
• Green chillies/pepper (cut into small pieces, to taste)
• Chicken (boneless, 5 breasts)

  RECIPE METHOD

1. Lay the chicken breasts flat on a sheet of aluminium foil and put into the broiler, preferably, or the oven if you don't have a broiler. Put the flame on full blast, and turn frequently until uniformly done - the surface should be light brown, and the meat inside should be white. If you are using an oven, this takes about an hour, and there is no need to turn frequently; for a broiler, it should take approx. 15 minutes.
2. If you are not using boneless chicken, proceed as above, and after the meat is cooked, shred the chicken - i.e., remove the bones, and try to make cubes of 0.5 inch side. If you are using boneless chicken, cut into approx 0.5 inch cubes/cuboids.
3. Fill a large non-stick utensil with the onions, garlic and ginger (note that everything should be chopped very finely).
4. Fry the above in the oil until the onion is (golden brown+) : i.e., there is very little water left in the onion, but it is not burned. At this point, throw in the chopped tomatoes, stir a little, cover, lower the flame and wait (approx. 4-5 mins) until the tomatoes lose all shape.
5. Then put the tomato paste into the above mixture, stir, cover, and wait another 4-5 minutes. The mixture may now be pureed in a food processor to achieve a smoother consistency (this step may be omitted if you are in a hurry).
6. After this, put in all the sour cream, stir until a uniformly homogeneous mixture is attained, cover and wait 4-5 minutes more. Then put in the garam masala salt (to taste, about 1.5 tsp should do) and red chilli powder, stir well again, and simmer another 4-5 minutes.
7. After this, turn off the flame. Fry the cubed boneless chicken lightly in all the butter in another non-stick pan (lightly = about two minutes on a medium flame). Then put the chicken and all the melted butter into the onion-tomato mixture, and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and the cut green chillies, stir, and simmer covered for about 10-15 minutes or until the gravy reaches the desired (thickish) consistency.
8. If at any point in the entire process the gravy becomes too thick/dry, dilute with milk/water. After the cooking is done, garnish with the cilantro, and serve with roti/naan/tortilla and raita. Variations: Paneer may be used instead of chicken. The paneer should be fried.
9. Also, whole garam masala (cardamom, cloves and cinnamon) and bay leaves should be seasoned in the oil the onions are fried in, if paneer is used. Puree-ing is recommended.
   

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