My research for this dish was very confusing. It turns out that there are a lot of ways to make butter chicken. That's somewhat normal for cooking, I guess, but these were very different recipes. Also, there was some confusion as to what constituted "butter chicken." Some sites insisted that it and tikka masala were the same thing, for example. Because of all of this I thought my best plan was to go with a simple version of the dish and then I could use that as a base for experimentation the next time I try it. I still wanted one that at least claimed to taste like the butter chicken you find at restaurants, since that's the flavor I have so far liked. I eventually settled on this one. I mean, if you're going to make butter chicken, you might as do it with an emphasis on "butter," right?
The recipe is fairly simple. It only calls for two real spices (or spice blends.) I already had the garam masala from the tikka masala. I just had to track down the tandoori masala and stop by the grocery, and I was set. The tandoori masala is a little tricky. The local indian market had many boxes labeled "Tandoori Barbecue Masala" which might be the same thing, but I did find one bottle simply labelled Tandoori Masala.
There's a lot of cooking here, but nothing too complex. As is my new habit, I did as much of the prep ahead of time as possible. I diced the onion and fresh garlic, made sure the tomato sauce was open and ready, and defrosted the chicken. I used about 3 tablespoons of butter in the pan for the onions and garlic and got them going.
While they were cooking I started on the sauce. Two sticks of butter (minus the 3 tbs for the onions,) one 15oz can of tomato sauce, and 3 cups of whipping cream. It was just decadent and beautiful to see it all in its fatty glory melting and mixing together.
I didn't use cayenne pepper since I had a bunch of red pepper powder left over from the tikka masala. I also only put in about 3/4 teaspoon in deference to my wife. However, the final product had no real bite to it, so I could have gone "full bore" with it and will next time.
I cut up the chicken and tossed it in oil and tandoori masala and put it in the oven to bake for 12 minutes. I have to admit I was highly dubious about how this was going to turn out. Normally for a dish like this I would have quickly stir fried them, but I have to admit I was wrong. The little cubes came out perfect and a nice bright red from the masala.
When I put the chicken in the oven, the onions had just finished. Caramelized onions smell so good. And they're so tasty I was hard put to not just eat them right there. But I kept to it and tossed them in the sauce. I can't really tell you what the sauce would have tasted like without them, but they did not make it taste onion-y, and I think they added a couple of nice notes of sweetness and a little smoke.
Once the chicken was done, in it went, and I let the whole thing simmer while the rice was cooking. I got a bit of a late start with the rice, but it didn't upset me too much because more simmering can't be anything but good for a sauce like this. I made brown basmati rice. Truth be told I overcooked it a bit trying to get a good dry rice for the dish. It tasted fine, but was a little crunchy.
How did it turn out? It's got two sticks of butter and three cups of heavy cream. It was delicious!
Seriously, though, it was better than I feared it would be. I intended it as an experiment and a base to build on, but it was really good as is, and not just because it can clog your arteries by smell alone. My only disappointments were that the masala taste, while evident, was a bit more subtle than I would have liked, and the heat was totally non-existent. Next time I'll definitely turn up both spices a notch or two. I'll probably also start to experiment with the butter and heavy cream. Maybe replace some with yogurt or half and half, and see what that does. However, it was definitely delicious and I will be working it into the normal food rotation around here very soon.
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