Chicken Butter Masala

Chicken Butter Masala (Spice)

Servings: makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamon (crush before adding)
• 1 thingy of garlic chopped finely
• 1 inch of fresh ginger grated
• 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground (Ryan is a cumin fiend. extra cumin so I added 1 tablespoon whole cumin) - Indian store also called Jeera
• 1 teaspoon coriander, toasted and ground - Indian Store also called Dhania
• 1/2 an onion
• 2 cups tomato (freshly diced)
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste (Or 1-2 whole dried chilli can be got in any ethnic store)
• 3-4 chicken breast cut into bite sized cubes (I like to use the antibiotic/ hormone free chicken which don't have ridiculously abnormal sized breasts)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves - Indian store also called Methi
• 2 tablespoons cashew or almond butter (optional - I couldn't find this)
• 1/2 -1 cup non-fat plain yogurt (this was instead of heavy cream to make it more healthy)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala - Indian store (or I shall post a different recipe on how to make your own, my mom makes her own, and I borrowed some of hers)
• salt to taste
• butter (optional for garnish)
• cilantro (optional for garnish), chopped

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken cubes in the garam masala, honey, fenugreek, almond butter and yogurt, for an 10 minutes to an hour (if you have time at hand, I just did 10 minutes and it was fine).
2. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
3. Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and cayenne, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, honey, fenugreek, almond butter and yogurt and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Add salt to taste and remove from heat.
7. Serve over basmati rice garnished with butter and cilantro. Also good with naan, puri, roti etc.