Challenge: Butter Chicken (Part 2)

Due to time restraints, I definitely made some questionable choices that affected the end result.


#1: I cooked the chicken in the sauce on the stove. They were supposed to be baked first. The meat got pretty tough. Letting it simmer in the sauce in a pan made it overcooked; all the juices ran out into the sauce instead of sealed in when baked. So having marinating the chicken in the yogurt (which makes the meat tender) was a waste of time.


#2: For this dish, pureeing tomatoes with your own blender is not the same as a can of tomato sauce. Fresh tomatoes were watery, sour and not concentrated enough. The dish did not have the bright reddish colour that I love about butter chicken. More importantly, I had to add extra sugar to get rid of the sourness. Plus, when I mixed it with the yogurt mixture, the water and the pureed fibre separated in the pan, making the butter chicken appear kind of nasty and grainy...instead of thick and smooth.


Considering it as my first attempt at Indian cooking, it turned out pretty well. It was quite flavourful. I'd probably make it again but not too soon, especially knowing how much butter and whipping cream was used!

Challenge: Butter Chicken (Part 1)

I probably could have chosen a dish with half the number of ingredients to make for my first ever challenge. However, it is The Life Cooking Project after all so no whimpy tasks will be allowed to waste space on this blog. Having said that, let's get right to it! 

First we sieved the plain yogurt with a cheesecloth to drain all the unnecessary water out. That took about an hour. 

Meg (yes I did have a helper on this one...I was in a rush to get the first part completed in time for our dinner date with friends) was responsible for mixing all the spices together which smelled fragrant and simply DELICIOUS!!! We cheated a little and ended up using a premixed Garam Marasla to save a bit of time. 

I, in the mean time, minced garlic and ginger (that's what the bigger cubes in the spices mixture are).  

While the yogurt was still draining, Meg cleaned and cubed the chicken breasts while I chopped onions and diced tomatoes. The first mixture of spices was then added to the onions to cook for a good 10 minutes so they really soak in the flavour. My kitchen smelled like an Indian restaurant at this point and my mother popped her head in, clearly loving the intense aroma. 

As I dealt with the frying pan, Meg prepared the second dry spices mixture to which was then added to the drained yogurt. The chicken is to be submerged in this for at least 24 hours hence there will be a part 2 tomorrow. 

Eventually, after the onions were completely cooked, tomatoes were added, then both removed from heat. It will be pureed later on. 

Now everything is ready and prepped. Tomorrow, the plan is to turn my kitchen into Little India north of the 401. At this point, it is still make or break. With that many spices in this dish, the only think that I am not worried about is the sauce tasting bland.