Midweek is upon us yet again, and its the perfect time for an easy tasty meal that’s going to leave lots of left overs. Tonight’s midweek meal is a curry, a family friendly curry at that. It’s Butter Chicken! Yeah yeah you probably already knew that since you clicked the link but let me live a little.

The nice thing about this butter chicken is once you get past caramelising the onion (which is a must because it adds just the best flavour and depth to the meal) its really just a matter of chucking it all in the pot and walk away. There’s not a million and one spices you have to worry about, and if you have made just about any curry in the past you probably already have the spices needed.  So give it a try and let me know what you think!

Prep time – 10 mins, Cooking time – 40 mins, Serves 4

Butter Chicken

2 chicken breasts – diced

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 medium onions – chopped

2 tbs minced garlic

1 tbs chicken stock powder

2 tbs garam masala

2 tsp paprika

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

410g can of chopped tomato

300ml heavy cream

2 tbs butter

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom saucepan over a medium heat and add the onions. Cook slowly until golden, around 20 minutes. Reduce the heat if the onions start to get crisp or are browning too quickly.
2. When onion is caramelised, add garlic and cook for about a minute, stir in garam masala, cinnamon, paprika, salt and sugar. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and cook for a further few minutes, then add the cream.
4. Now, you have options here, if you’re feeling fancy you can puree the sauce. If you have an immersion blender use that, if not a regular blender will work, just mind the steam. I have an old Magic Bullet which did the trick just fine. If you’re just looking to put food on the table and get fed in a hurry then skip the puree, honestly it tastes just the same!
5. Return the sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. When just bubbling, add the chicken and stir through. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 15mins or until the chicken is no longer pink in the centre.
6. When cooked, stir in butter. If needed add some more salt to taste.
7. Serve with rice, pappadums or naan (or if your my husband… all three!)
8. Enjoy!

~A

P.S. Thanks to foodess.com for the inspo on this one 🙂 As usual though I couldn’t help myself and have tweaked her recipe to make it a bit more to my tastes!