Kevin Aherne's butter chicken: Today

Ingredients

Equipment

• Blender
• Wooden spoon
• Mixing bowl
• 2 Frying Pans

For the chicken

• 4 chicken breast or 4 boned out chicken legs – diced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger – minced
• 1 tbsp fresh garlic – minced
• 4 tbsp of natural yogurt or buttermilk
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 lemon juice & zest
• 1 tsp salt

For the curry sauce

• 1 white onion-thinly sliced
• 2 deseeded red chilli – thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove
• 100g butter
• 1 tbsp tomato purree
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 100ml water
• 1 star anise ( optional)
• 100ml cream
• 1 ½ tsp salt & 1 ½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. Firstly, we want to get the chicken marinating – you can do this the night before for best results but 3o minutes will do the trick.
2. Mix all the spices , garlic, ginger, yogurt & lemon together in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces. Marinade.
3. While the chicken is marinading, get the curry sauce ready.
4. On a medium heat slowly cook the onion and chilli for about 10 minutes in the butter.
5. Add the spices, ginger, garlic & tomato puree. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat & add the mix to your blender. Add the cream & water to the blender. Blend until fine.
7. In a clean pan on a medium to high heat fry your chicken pieces until golden brown on each side . Don't over load the pan, fry in batches if you need too.
8. Once the chicken has been fried – add the chicken & curry sauce together. Bring to a simmer in a pan for 6-8 minutes.
9. Your butter chicken is ready – serve with rice, naan breads, some fresh chilli & coriander