Creamy Homemade Butter Chicken for a Weeknight Dinner

A long soak in a spiced yogurt base softens chicken thighs for this Creamy Homemade Butter Chicken for a Weeknight Dinner. You drop the coated meat right into a hot pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes in a tomato and cream sauce. You can prep the chicken a day ahead.

The spiced yogurt marinade

Start by blending the full fat plain yogurt, lemon juice, freshly grated ginger, crushed garlic, and spices in a processor to form a completely smooth paste, which yields an extra smooth sauce later. This mixture features garam masala, a readily available Indian spice blend found in standard supermarket spice aisles. You also need pure ground dried chilies. Avoid the chili blends commonly sold in the United States, because those products include extra seasonings beyond ground chilies. Cayenne pepper can step in as a replacement to provide a similar mild spice kick.

Pour this smooth mixture over 1.5 lb (750 g) of bite-size chicken thigh fillets. Stir the bowl to coat every piece. The meat needs to refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours. You can leave it overnight for up to 24 hours.

Cooking the chicken

You start the cooking process with 2 tablespoons (30 g) of ghee in a large pan over high heat. Ghee is a type of clarified butter. You can substitute regular butter or 1 tablespoon of neutral vegetable oil.

Lift the chicken directly from the bowl to the hot pan. Do not wipe or shake the marinade off the meat. You cook the chicken for about 3 minutes. The yogurt stops the meat from searing. The chicken will turn white all over, but it will not turn golden or browned.

The tomato and cream sauce

You do not discard the leftover marinade in the bowl. Pour it straight into the pan with the chicken. Add 1 cup of tomato passata, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1.25 teaspoons of salt.

Tomato passata is pureed canned tomatoes. It often goes by the label tomato puree in the United States. You can also substitute blended canned tomatoes or American plain tomato sauce. If you want a lighter sauce, you can replace the heavy cream with a mix of three-quarters cup light cream and one-quarter cup milk.

Turn the heat down to low. The sauce simmers for 20 minutes. You will see the color change from pale to dark orange as it cooks. Taste the curry at the end to check if it needs more salt.

To Serve

Top the hot pan with fresh cilantro. You can serve the meal over basmati rice or white rice. Flatbread works well to pick up the extra sauce. You can also match the hot chicken with fresh vegetable sides:

• Minted tomato salad
• Cucumber salad
• Cabbage salad

Vegetable samosas and papadums are great options for starters. If you want to skip frying, you can cook raw papadums in the microwave. Place them along the outer perimeter of the glass plate and heat them for up to one minute to puff them up.