Homemade butter chicken, your new Sunday chicken

India comes second, just behind Italy, in the ranking of the most popular cuisines on Instagram. Colorful and tasty, Indian cuisine indeed has serious assets and is full of spicy specialties. It also includes a wide variety of chicken recipes, including chicken biryani, tikka masala, korma, or butter chicken.

Butter chicken without butter… or almost

You will surely be delighted to learn that butter chicken actually contains very little. Only a small piece is added at the end of the recipe, to bring roundness to the sauce. Even to brown the ingredients, a healthier alternative is used: ghee. A butter, certainly, but this one has been clarified, and that makes all the difference.

Ghee

A favored ingredient of Indian cuisine and Ayurvedic medicine, ghee is a butter that has had its whey and proteins removed. This makes it more digestible, and allows it to be heated up to 210°C without burning, compared to 130°C for classic butter.

We can therefore use it to brown food, without fearing for the integrity of our pans. Its very pronounced nutty flavor, like that of browned butter, is also an asset in cooking.

How to make homemade butter chicken?

Butter chicken markers

The marinade

Like many tasty dishes, butter chicken is not a dish that can be improvised. The marinade stage, as well as 3 hours of rest, are therefore essential. It is thanks to this time that the chicken will be able to soften and soak up the spices. If you’re in a hurry, try to at least let it marinate for 30 minutes.

The chicken

In the traditional butter chicken recipe, a whole chicken is used. However, if you want to simplify the recipe, chicken fillets or thighs will do the trick.

The butter chicken recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Rest: 3 hours

For 4 people

• 1 whole chicken

The marinade

• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 natural yogurt
• 2 tbsp. tablespoon of garam masala
• 1 pinch of chili powder
• 1 tbsp. teaspoon grated ginger
• salt and pepper

The sauce

• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 30g ghee
• 500 g tomato coulis
• 2 tbsp. tablespoon of garam masala
• 1 tbsp. teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 pinch of chili powder
• 50 g crushed cashew nuts
• 2 tbsp. tablespoon of crème fraîche
• 20g butter
• salt and pepper

Prepare the marinade. Chop the garlic cloves, mix all the marinade ingredients together.
Cut the chicken into quarters. Brush the pieces with the marinade. Place everything in a dish, cover with cling film, leave to marinate for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.
Slice the onion and garlic cloves.
Heat the ghee in a large saucepan. Add the onion, minced garlic and chicken to the pan. Sear the pieces on each side so that they are nicely browned.
Then remove the chicken from the pan, set aside.
In the same saucepan, pour the tomato coulis, garam masala, grated ginger and chili powder. Leave to simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, covered.
Add the crushed cashew nuts, chicken pieces, cream and butter to the sauce, season.
Mix, then cook for another 10 minutes, covered.
Serve with white rice and homemade cheese naan to accompany.