‘Better’ Butter Chicken

Mmmm butter chicken. Is there anything better to eat during those freezing cold winter months? I think not! It’s funny, Josh and I actually fell in LOVE with butter chicken while we were travelling in Vietnam (of all places) and had it probably every second day ha-ha! We were obsessed. We enjoyed the buttery, creamy dish and alllll the garlic naan. My eczema was NOT happy, but it was worth it?

Now, I will let you know up front that this is not identical to the traditional butter chicken that you can eat at an Indian restaurant. My version uses coconut milk instead of cream, only a few tbsp of butter, and some veggies. It’s still very rich and creamy but a lot healthier than regular butter chicken and because you are marinating the chicken beforehand, its extra tender and delicious. Indian food is my favorite because of how many spices they use. Just amazing. I really need to travel to India one day and try out the food there. Maybe in a home-stay? If you have done this, PLEASE let me know your experience.

Note: when you see how long the ingredient list is, you might become overwhelmed BUT a lot of the ingredients are spices used twice (once for marinade and again for the sauce) so it’s actually not that intimidating 🙂

Better Butter Chicken
Marinade
2 chicken breasts cut up into cubes
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt – full fat (that good good 11%)
1 tbsp garam masala + 1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt and some cracked pepper
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
Sauce
2 tbsp grassfed butter + 1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 small onion – chopped finely
2 large cloves garlic – minced
Grated ginger – as much as you want. I used roughly 4-5 tbsp (love ginger!)
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander + 1 tsp onion powder + 1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can crushed tomato (14oz)
2 tbsp tomato paste (see tip below)
3 tbsp honey
2 cups creamy coconut milk
1 red pepper – cut into chunks
1/2 tsp salt + pepper to start. Add more if needed

Directions
1. Whisk all marinade ingredients together (except chicken) in a bowl, then add to a ziploc bag with the diced chicken and mix around so chicken is evenly coated. Let marinate in the fridge for as long as you want. Minimum 1 hour if possible.
2. Melt the butter and coconut oil in a medium-large frying pan (that is deep) on low-medium heat and saute the onions. Add a pinch of sea salt and cook up until translucent and fragrant, don’t burn! Add in minced garlic, grated ginger, and marinated chicken and cook on lower heat until chicken is cooked.
3. Add in ALL spices and mix around until chicken is evenly coated. Let this cook up for a few minutes to let the spices come together, mixing continuously. Next, add red peppers, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and mix up. Turn up the heat just a little bit and let this cook up until peppers are tender and flavors POP, stirring every few minutes. After about 15 minutes, check if peppers are tender, and add in coconut milk, honey, salt + pepper and taste test. Adjust salt + honey to your taste preference. Cook until peppers are tender to your liking.

Serve over coconut lime rice, cauliflower rice, garlic naan, and with an avocado, always.
You can even scoop this up with some Mary’s Crackers (sounds weird, but it’s so good!).

Tomato paste TIP: If you are buying the small cans, you can save the remaining amount by scooping it out and placing it on a piece of parchment paper, then freeze it. Once frozen, place in a ziploc bag and freeze it. I usually scoop out 1 tbsp for each dallop. You can also buy a jar of tomato paste and use as you need it.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! It tastes even better the next day.
Enjoy! xx