Butter Chicken

My sister and I have a favorite Indian restaurant back home that makes the best Butter Chicken ever. Brian and I went there once to try it out and thankfully I ordered the Butter Chicken. The rest is history and it is now one of my favorite restaurants. But now that I am in Houston I can't just head on down to the Spice Hut anymore. I've been meaning to try and make my own Butter Chicken and as I was pinteresting this weekend I found this recipe. I've been hesitant to try my own Indian food because I was under the impression that it would be hard/time consuming to make but this recipe was very easy. Apparently McCormick makes garam masala seasoning as part of their gourmet collection but I couldn't find any at my local grocery store. So Brian and I just made our own. There are recipes for it all over the internet and they are all fairly similar, so just pick one. We made extra for next time.

Now on to the review. I would give this recipe 4 stars. It's not as good as the Spice Hut's Butter Chicken, but if you've never had it there then you won't know what you're missing. It makes a lot, especially for our family of 4, so I was able to freeze some for an easy meal in the future. Brian likes his chicken swimming in the sauce, so we would either add less chicken or make more sauce next time. The recipe also says to serve with pita bread. We did this and it was pretty good, but if you can get your hands on some Naan that would obviously be better. The recipe is easy to tweak to suit your own preferences, but I think the original is great without any adjustments and will definitely be added to my regular rotation of meals.

Butter Chicken

Source: Food Network

Ingredients

Spice Blend:

• 1 tablespoon garam masala seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons jarred minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 skinless rotisserie chicken, boned out and pulled into 1 1/2 by 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas, placed in a colander and run under hot water to thaw
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• Hot basmati rice, for serving
• Pita bread, warmed according to package directions, for serving

Directions

To make the spice blend: Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the pieces just begin to turn gold, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The spices will be fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir will. Add the chicken pieces, spoon the sauce over the top and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce is flavorful, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover to keep warm.

Shake any excess water from the peas. Add the peas and cream to the sauce in the pan, stir well and heat through. Do not boil. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice and warmed pita bread.

Variation: If you prefer shreds of chicken to whole pieces, remove the skin from the chicken and pull the meat into large chunks by hand. Add to the pan along with the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend. Cook for 3 minutes and then add the tomato sauce and continue with the recipe. Serve over basmati rice.