Butter Chicken

A creamy butter chicken recipe from Rick Stein. Similar to the timeless tikka, this chicken curry is marinated first in chilli powder, then in a spicy yoghurt.

Servings

Total time

minutes

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (large, skinless, each cut into 2 or 3 pieces at an angle)
2 limes (juice of)
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp salt
50 g natural yogurt
50 g double cream
20 g garlic (roughly chopped)
25 g ginger (5 cm, roughly chopped)
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Turmeric
¾ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp beetroot powder (for colour, optional)
50 g ghee
25 g garlic (finely crushed)
25 g ginger (5 cm, shredded)
400 g tomato passata
½ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp desiccated coconut
1½ tsp salt
200 ml water
25 g Cashew nuts
25 g pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp water (boiling)
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
½ tsp caster sugar
45 ml double cream
pinch chat masala
handful coriander leaves (roughly chopped)
15 g ginger (3 cm, finely shredded)

Method

For the first marinade, mix the lime juice, chilli powder and salt together in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces to the marinade, then cover and transfer to the fridge to marinate for 1 hour. For the second marinade, put all the ingredients apart from the chat masala into a mini food processor. Blend until smooth, then add this to the marinated chicken and stir well to coat. Cover and transfer to the fridge to marinate for 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 240°C/Gas 9 (or 220°C if your oven doesn’t go that high). Thread the chicken on to lightly oiled metal skewers (you can put more than one piece per skewer, but leave space between them) then suspend the skewers above a roasting tin. Alternatively place them on a wire rack over a roasting tin. Roast for 15–20 minutes, or until lightly charred in places but not completely cooked through, as you’ll finish cooking them in the sauce. For the sauce, while the chicken is cooking, heat the ghee in heavy-based saucepan or karahi over a medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a minute, then stir in the tomato passata and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add all the spices, coconut, salt and 100ml of the water and simmer for a further 10 minutes. In a mini food processor, or using a pestle and mortar, blend the cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and boiling water into a paste. Stir this into the sauce followed by the chicken pieces and another 100ml water. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through, then stir in the fenugreek leaves, sugar and cream and cook for a further 2 minutes. Sprinkle with chat masala, garnish with fresh coriander and ginger, and serve.