Indian Butter Chicken

I recently dabbled into making curry. I don't know why, but for some reason, making Indian food seemed a little out of my reach. I don't know what changed my mind. I think I figured that if so many people like curries, they can't be that hard to make. I know that logic doesn't exactly follow, but go with it, OK?

Given that my husband has some different tastes than I do, I decided that Chicken Makhani, or Butter Chicken, was the safest bet for the two of us. Sort of as I suspected, I got mixed reviews. I thought it was great, but my husband thought it was OK, but had the same spicy/sweet combination he doesn't like in Chinese food. I think that's crazy, but to each his own, I guess. I didn't get that at all from this recipe, but if you do have those same issues with Chinese, this recipe may not be for you. If you don't have those issues, I suspect you'll love it, too.


Chicken Makhani
Recipe from FoodNetwork, adapted
Serves 4-5
Prep Time - 5 minutes
Cook Time - about 30 min

INGREDIENTS

Spice Blend
1 tsp garam masala seasoning*
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Sauce
3 TBSP butter
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 skinless rotisserie chicken, pulled & cut into small chunks**
1/4 - 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup heavy cream

Hot basmati rice, for serving
warm Naan bread, for serving

DIRECTIONS
Spice Blend
Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Sauce
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add garlic, tomato paste, and spice blend, and cook about 1 minute. Stir constantly.

Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir well.

Add the chicken pieces and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is warmed through. Stir frequently.

Serve over hot, buttered basmati rice with warm naan bread.

*The original recipe calls for 1 TBSP of garam masala seasoning and 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon in addition to the spices listed. This smelled almost exclusively like cinnamon to me, so I omitted the cinnamon and reduced the amount of garam masala. I would do this again.

**I made a rotisserie spiced chicken in my crockpot. It was super simple and delicious. I will post that recipe soon.