Butter Chicken – The Ramadan Cookbook by Anisa Karolia
Extracted from The Ramadan Cookbook by Anisa Karolia (Ebury Press, £22), photography by Ellis Parrinder
A royal dish if ever there was one, Butter Chicken is known for its luxuriously rich texture and for me, the thicker and creamier the better.
It’s a flavourful, aromatic curry with a butter and tomato base – wonderfully creamy and tastes out of this world.
My children absolutely love this beautiful dish. I make this often and serve it with Basmati Rice (see page 136 [of the cook book]).
My husband loves Butter Chicken too and makes it using this recipe – I’ve got to say it’s pretty good! Forget going out to dinner – make this and have a night in. You can thank me later!
INGREDIENTS
- 4–5 tablespoons oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 500g chicken breast, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon butter chicken masala or…
- tandoori masala
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 fresh tomato, chopped
- 250g tomato passata
- 100–150ml water
- 125ml milk
- 150ml single or double cream
- 30g butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- chopped fresh coriander, to garnish
METHOD
Serves 2-3 • Time: Prep 15min, Cook 25min
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a low heat, add the bay leaves and onion and cook for 5 minutes until golden brown.
- Add the chicken, ginger paste and garlic paste and cook for 25 minutes until only a little moisture is left from the chicken.
- Add the chilli powder, chilli flakes, Kashmiri chilli powder, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, butter chicken masala or tandoori masala, salt, pepper and dried fenugreek and stir well.
- Add the fresh tomato and passata, cook for 1 minute, then pour in the water, milk and cream and stir well.
- Simmer for 8–10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Add the butter, letting it melt through the sauce, then add the lemon juice and serve sprinkled with chopped coriander.
- I serve the pulao with a simple yoghurt raita.
Cook With Anisa – Wife, Mum, Sassy, Classy Cooking Queen! Author of The Ramadan Cookbook…
Credit: Cook With Anisa
I started the YouTube channel back in 2014 when I used to sell cakes and my first video was actually showing how I made a simple cake sponge. A while later in 2015, after posting pics of food on my Instagram I used to get lots of requests for recipes of what I had posted and it made me think back to when I was learning to cook, and apart from my mum if I asked anyone else I just got a load of excuses, people just wanted to keep recipes for themselves, and many others experienced the same.
Since then it’s been my mission to try and make sure anyone from whichever background is able to cook and enjoy good home cooked food especially the food I grew up enjoying from my childhood and I’ve never looked back since.
When I first started, I thought even if I could teach one person this life skill then that was my job done, but I get messages on the daily from teenagers and upwards trying out recipe’s and asking my advice, really makes me happy.
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