Butter Chicken:Number of People 4-6:Ingredients:150g raw cashews- optional -I used them
2cm piece of ginger cut into coins
1 onion quartered
3 cloves garlic
1 large chili
4 cardamon pods
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
15g EVOO
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
15 g white wine vinegar
80g tomato paste
140g light Greek or natural yoghurt
400g tomatoes, fresh or tinned
180g stock
1kg chicken thigh fillets cut into 3cm pieces
250g creme fraiche -if not using cashews
2 teaspoons garam masala
rice to serve
Preparation:Grind the cashews. 20 seconds/speed 9. set aside.
Add to bowl, ginger, onion, garlic, chilli,cardamon pods, cinnamon stick and cloves. Chop 3 secs/speed 7. Scrape down bowl.
Add a little oil and saute 2 minutes/100
0C/speed 1.
Add the coriander, cumin, paprika, vinegar, tomato puree and yoghurt. Cook 2 minutes/100
0C/speed 1.
Add the tomatoes, stock and ground cashews if using. Cook 10 minutes/100
0C/speed 1.
For the chicken, while the sauce is cooking in the thermomix, saute the chicken in a deep pan on the stove top.You can add chopped onion and capsicum to this.For the sauce, add creme fraiche if using. Blend at speed 4 and then slowly increase to speed 9 and blend for 1 minute. Do this even if you aren't using the creme fraiche. The sauce will be smooth and creamy.
The chicken should be sealed by now, drain off excess fat and add the curry sauce to the chicken in the pan. Turn to a low setting and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or so. You can now cook the rice. There is no need to wash the bowl.When the rice is cooked, stir in the garam masala to the chicken and sauce.
Serve with the rice, naan bread and poppadums.
Photos:Tips/Hints:The recipe in the Indian book is delicious but I prefer this as it has no cream.
The nuts make it very creamy, I didn't use the creme fraiche.
The recipe was originally from Australian Women's Weekly Indian Cooking and was converted and tweaked for the UK newsletter.
This has become one of our new favourites.