For the chicken that was made this past Sunday, I referenced these two videos on how to make “butter chicken” which is an indian-style curry:
Elderly Indian woman recipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rB_XmYnr28&t=592s&ab_channel=Countryfoods
Young American man recipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDjK5C2aoSs&ab_channel=JoshuaWeissman
And I combined the spices from the Indian, with the technique of the American.
For Chicken/Marinade:
Chop chicken thighs into ~1″ chunks
Stir together marinade of plain yogurt, pepper, garam masala, tumeric powder, cumin, chili powder, paprika (there are the indian spices I had available).
To ensure I don’t oversalt — I spread out the chicken on a tray, and then sprinkle generously with salt on one side.
Stir the chicken into the yogurt marinade
Let sit for 30 minutes at least, preferably overnight. The yogurt tenderizes the chicken.
After sitting, saute the chicken over high heat. The goal is to develop good brown color, and mostly cook the chicken. Chicken thighs, unlike chicken breast, still taste good even when overcooked.
Sauce/Gravy
Add oil to pan, and saute lots of diced onion & garlic with leftover fond in pan from frying chicken. Add in more garam masala, tumeric powder, cumin, chili powder, paprika to bloom.
Once onions and garlic are softened, pour in lots of crushed tomatoes.
Simmer until onions/garlic/tomatoes are cooked through
If you have an (immersion) blender, you can blend it more to smooth out the sauce.
Combine chicken into sauce, simmer for a few minutes to blend flavors, and add cream and butter to lighten
Add salt & seasonings to taste!
Butter Chicken curry is a forgiving dish — you can take a lot of liberties with it, and it will still taste great! Just be sure to taste and adjust throughout to your liking. None of the spices/ingredients are essential — even if you just sear chicken and stir it in a stew of tomato sauce, and add salt to taste, it will still be great.
