Butter Chicken Curry

Ok ok, now I know what you're thinking. Ryan Seacrest sure has aged!

Seriously, if you're thinking there's no way you can make an Indian curry, trust me, this is one the easiest recipes you'll ever find.



So let's start with the ingredients:
2 tblsps oil
2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 shallot
1 small onion
1/4 cup bell pepper
2 tblsps butter
2 tsps lemon juice
1 tblsp ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup light cream
2 1/2 tblsps tomato paste
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup water

Heat 1 tblsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Chop up the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the frying pan and saute until the pieces have turned white. You don't need to cook it through, it will continue cooking with the other ingredients. This takes about 3-4 minutes

I suggested using chicken thighs because the meat will be a lot more tender when you're done cooking. I suggested boneless and skinless because that's far less work and it's a little less gross to cut up.

Dice the shallot, onion, pepper, garlic and ginger.

Add to chicken and cook for a couple minutes until everything seems a bit wilted.

 

Stir in the butter, lemon juice, and spices-garam masala, chilli powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute. 

*Tip - if you are not a fan of spiciness, reduce the cayenne to just a pinch. But I would suggest you don't eliminate it completely. Cause really, what good's a curry that doesn't make you sweat a little?

Add the tomato paste, stir, and cook for another minute.

Add in the water, salt and pepper, and stir, and reduce heat to low. Cover pan and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add in the yogurt and light cream. Give it a quick stir, and let it heat through for about 2-3 minutes.

 Do NOT overcook this or the yogurt and cream will curdle!

And thats it!! You have made a curry!

Accompaniments
You can serve this on a bed of rice. Jasmine or Basmati rice smell delicious so I would recommend those. If you only have white rice, that works as well. And if you insist on being healthy, I suppose I could live with you using brown rice.

You can also purchase different breads. Naan, Chapati, Paratha, Poori. They just need a quick warm-up and they're ready to go. They're really quite lovely!

I also recommend purchasing a pickle. There's all sort of varieties, but I'd say lime or mango are the way to go.

I am also in love with poppadoms. They're quite easy to make. Just add 2 tblsps of oil to a pan, heat oil till it's very hot, add poppadoms and cook for about 30 seconds each side. They will sizzle and expand.

There's a healthy alternative of cooking it in the oven, but I'm not in love with that. And this is a treat, so heck, fry 'em!

Lastly, I make a yogurt side dish that's similar to the Raita you may have had in the restaurants. It is essential for folks such as myself who love the taste of spice, but sometimes feel like their mouths will burst into flames.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 tomato
1/4 cucumber
1 tsp ginger
Pinch of salt
2 tblsp bell pepper

Add a bit of kosher salt to the shredded cucumber and wait a few minutes. Squeeze the cucumber and drain the water. Add the yogurt, diced tomato, bell pepper, and ginger. Give it a good stir, taste and if it needs salt, add a pinch.

Whenever I use cucumber in a dip or sauce, I use the kosher salt to extract the excess water from it. If you don't do this, the sauce will become really watery and like miller lite, what's the point of it then?

And there you go. A delicious Indian dinner, that's easy, delicious, and should make you ridiculously proud for having cooked it!

Enjoy!