MEAL PREP: Butter chicken curry
I have been told all throughout my life that it is such a shame that I have never had a “proper” curry. To be fair, most of the people that said this to me probably haven’t either, they have all been in the west and got it from their local. What I remind them of, is that my mother lived in India in her 20s, she speaks Bengali, and she adopted my brother from Calcutta - and she has been making me curry my whole life. Yes, they are not coming from an actual Indian restaurant, but I am still enjoying the flavours and cuisine of India.
Whenever I feel like it, I ask my mother to make tandoori chicken, yellow rice, aloo gobi and coriander cauliflower, with some cucumber yoghurt (Raita) on the side.
I know that most reactors, who are allergic to nuts, do not have someone who is versed in curry like my mother, so I wanted to give you a quick, easy recipe to make for your weekly meal prep that will give you the sense you are having a curry. It is not spicy, it is not ‘Indian’, it is my spin on one of my favourite and safe curry - Butter chicken. (If you are in America, I used to buy the Trader Joe’s pre-made butter chicken, which was safe for me at the time, so if you’re passing through there, check it out!)
Ingredients
800g chicken breast ( you can use thighs if you want - for a more ‘fatty’ texture)
Cooking spray or light oil
40g butter (I use Light Flora)
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
200g of dairy greek yoghurt (can be dairy-free yoghurt, but then make sure it is full fat)
1 can tinned tomatoes
spices:
2tsp paprika (more if you want it spicy)
1tsp ginger powder (if you like it spicy use fresh ginger pieces)
1stp turmeric
1tsp cinnamon powder
pinch of salt
Method
Heat oven to medium temperature - 180ºc / 350ºF / Gas mark 6
Place chicken pieces on a baking tray, lined with baking paper
Add the powder ginger and light cooking spray, or oil, and spread onto the chicken.
Bake in the oven for around 20/25 minutes - making sure that it is cooked and hopefully browning on top.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Cut the onion & garlic into bite-size pieces and place in a large pot.
Add half the butter to the pot and cook on the stovetop (on low) until onion is soft. (Mixing all the time so the onion doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan)
Whilst the onions & garlic are simmering, cut up the chicken into bite-size pieces (on the thicker side - as they will be very soft)
Place the chicken in a big bowl - add the yoghurt, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon and salt.
Mix until the yoghurt and spices are coating all the chicken pieces.
When the onions & garlic are soft, add in the chicken mixture to the pot, and the rest of the butter.
Mix all of the ingredients together, so all of the chicken is thoroughly coated. Once the chicken is coated with all of the ingredients, add the tinned tomatoes.
Mix the tomatoes and chicken together.
Allow simmering (maybe turn the temperature up slightly)
The tomatoes should be bubbling away, keep mixing until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Remove from the stovetop and let rest for 10 minutes.
Serve into your Tupperware, with your veggies.
(This can be frozen! Just make sure that when you microwave it, to mix it thoroughly - and don’t freeze the whole batch at once unless you will eat it all when defrosted
Having allergies should not mean you miss out on different cuisines or cultures. We just need to adapt it for our dietary requirements. There will be people who can’t have this recipe either, and I just hope, that if that is you, that you just adapted it again to suit your needs!