Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Chicken for Michelle
This is a variant on velvet butter chicken. If you look at that recipe, you’ll see a good deal of similarity to this one. I wanted to cut down on the butter and cream, however, and to do that I added yogurt. The resulting sauce is more sour compared to velvet butter chicken, which may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your tastes. For what it’s worth, the three of us liked this variation as much as the original.
This is low carb but not low fat. I suppose you could cut back on the butter and cream, and use nonfat yogurt, but I can’t vouch for the results.
1 smaller can (12 oz? 16 oz?) diced tomatoes
1 cup plain yogurt
2 heaping tablespoons of fresh ginger, chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh garlic
Put these ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth.
Melt 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter in a heavy-bottomed pot — I use my Le Creuset Dutch oven for this. Add the tomato/ginger mixture and simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, about 6-7 minutes. Add:
2 heaping teaspoons cumin
2 heaping teaspoons paprika (I like to add a little hot smoked paprika)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup of cream
Stir well and simmer, stirring constantly, for another 5 or 10 minutes. You can, by the way, cook the onions in the butter at the beginning, but I forgot to do this and added them in late. No big deal.
I used three half chicken breasts for this recipe. I sliced the breasts (thickness, 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch) and added the slices to the sauce. Continue to simmer, stirring, for another ten minutes or so. You don’t want to overcook the breasts. The sauce should be fairly thick before you add the breasts; as the chicken cooks, it will give up a lot of juice, and that will thin out the sauce.
Taste and adjust for seasonings.
Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and a heaping teaspoon (or more, to taste) of garam masala. If you don’t have garam masala and can’t find it in your supermarket, use ground coriander and a pinch or two of ground cloves.
This goes well with Basmati rice, homemade naan (if you’re into that sort of thing), or focaccia.
D.
Cut down on butter and cream? *looks horrified* Doug, I’m about to kick you off my links list.
Just kidding. It sounds marvelous!
If it weren’t for Dean’s way with words, I might be tempted to leave him for the man who dreamed this up.
Fortunately for me, his cooking skills are almost as good as his
oralwriting abilities.This recipe has been up for two hours — with no cream! Edited to add cream.
May, if you want the full-butter, full-cream recipe, check that link above to velvet butter chicken. As I said above, today’s recipe is quite a bit more sour, thanks to the yogurt, so it may not be to everyone’s taste.
Thanks, sxKitten. Dean, you had better keep up those abilities.
Hmm…omit the salt, and it works for a low sodium diet.
The tomatoes and dairy make it bad for a renal diet, but I may try it anyway. I just can’t do it often.
[…] I ran out of milk, so I used an equal weight of cream. As in, yesterday I used 50g milk, today I used 50g cream. Unlike Doug, who posted a recipe that uses less of the Good Stuff, I do not stint on the Good Stuff. I increased the butter too. […]
Doug, I practice those abilities as often as I can. Keeps my hand in, so to speak.
And I think we’ll try to make this one of these days.
I am so effing jealous of your Le Creuset Dutch oven, Hoffman!
We have one too, O’Brien. Also two Le Creuset skillets. (/boast) All in blue, which don’t go with the red and buttercream of the kitchen.
Now I’m jealous. That stuff is so expensive, it’s hard for me to justify buying anything more than the Dutch oven. But oh, my, was I ever tempted by the Le Creuset tagine at Sur La Table. Ain’t she a beauty?
Doug, my rationale is that I’ll never buy another Dutch oven, and I’ll pass this one on to my kids. The skillets likewise.
If you use a tagine, why not buy a good one? You can pass it on to Jake.
Thank you Doug. I will try this soon. I have found that I love cumin almost as much as I love good fresh cilantro.
M