Butter Chicken

It's 2 am, I can't sleep, so what's a girl to do? Blog it would seem.You'd think I would be tired after all the garage cleaning and flat organising I did the past two days. Who knew housework would be such a great workout? Time to rethink that gym membership methinks...

Anywhoo, on to the food. Seeing as I was at home I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out butter chicken accompanied by home-made naan (stay tuned for that in the next post, but let me just say it was freakin' amazing!). You see I needed time for the chicken to marinade for an hour. Time I normally do not have on a weeknight. Yes, technically you could apply the marinade in the morning to be ready for cooking straight after work, but the not-so-organised girl inside me knew that wouldn't be happening. To the organised people out there - this is actually the perfect weeknight meal if you've already done the marinating legwork. After that the dish comes together in about 30 minutes.

Butter chicken is one of the most popular Indian curries around and a fixture on many a restaurant and takeout menu. This particular version is super flavourful and dare I say better than our local Indian restaurant's version. The chicken comes out meltingly soft (must be the marinade?) and the sauce is so good you almost want to pour it into a cup to drink. Oh go ahead, I won't judge...

Butter Chicken
Adapted from Some More Please! 
Serves 4

Marinade:
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp mild curry powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp oil

500g skinless boneless chicken breast fillets, cubed
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp butter*
1/2 medium onion, chopped very finely
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water
1/2 cup low-fat cream

1. Mix marinade ingredients together to form a paste, rub into chicken, cover and refrigerate for an hour to let the flavours soak in.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add chicken and brown over high heat. Remove chicken and set aside.
3. Add the onions to the same pan and fry over medium heat for 3 - 5 minutes until soft. Add garlic, ginger, salt, sugar and tomato paste and cook for another minute, then add water. Increase heat until sauce starts to boil, then decrease heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Sauce should start to thicken.
4. Add cream and chicken, cover again and simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Serve with naan or steamed basmati rice.

* I didn't have ghee, so used butter instead. If you have ghee, by all means use it. But I figured, hey, it's called butter chicken, so I'm sure a little butter won't hurt. Right?