What's Cooking Wednesday | Chicken Makhani

 

I love me some Indian food.  LOVE.  Before we had a mortgage and a baby, S and I used to go out for Indian food all the time.  Literally, like once per week.  When our budget started getting a little tighter, I tried finding recipes to replicate our favorite Indian foods at home.  I've had luck with various curries and tikka masala, but hadn't been able to find a really good chicken makhani (Indian butter chicken) recipe... until now.  This one is very, very close to our favorite local Indian restaurant's dish.  I think if I'd had time to let the sauce simmer all day, as I suspect it does at the restaurant, this would be spot-on.  However, even as written below, this recipe was fantastic.  I made this last night, and I think S must have told me at least five separate times how delicious dinner was!

Caveats:  This is NOT a diet food.  Between the butter and coconut milk, I don't even want to know how many calories are in this meal.  (You can substitute lower-calorie options or halve the amount of butter, but the recipe will not taste like authentic chicken makhani.)  Also, I am yet to find a way to photograph Indian food and make it look appetizing.  Indian food just isn't very photogenic.  So, I apologize for that... I promise it still tastes fantastic, even if these are not the most beautiful photos! ;-)

What You Need:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 TBSP onion powder
• 1 TBSP garlic powder
• 2 TBSP red curry powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 1-15 oz can diced tomatoes (I used petite diced, but I think next time I will use tomato paste instead.  Personal preference, this still tasted great!)
• 3 boneless chicken breasts, cooked*
• 2 cups (dry) basmati rice, cooked 

What To Do: 

Begin cooking your rice, so that it will be finished by the time your chicken makhani is ready.  (I have this Pampered Chef rice cooker and absolutely LOVE it.  I seriously use it at least twice per week.  So easy!  I highly recommend it if you eat a lot of rice!)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.

When the butter is good and melted, add the onions and your spices.  Give it a nice stir.

Add your coconut milk and tomatoes.  Stir gently to incorporate all of the ingredients.

  

Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and let simmer on low for 20-25 minutes (or longer, to achieve desired consistency).

While the sauce is simmering, grab your cooked chicken.  (I had some chicken that I'd previously cooked in the crock pot, so I just shredded that and threw it in.)

 Add your cooked chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

When the sauce is finished simmering, serve over basmati rice.   YUM!

* Note about my cooked chicken... I just throw fresh or frozen (no need to thaw!) chicken breasts in the crock pot with a little onion powder and garlic powder, cook for 6-8 hours on low, then shred it and use it in my recipes throughout the week.  It is so simple and such a huge time saver!