Butter Chicken

• 180 g raw Skinless chicken breast (6.3 oz raw)
• 90 g Nonfat Greek yogurt (⅓ cup)
• 3 g Curry powder (1½ tsp)
• 2 g Paprika (¾ tsp)
• 1 g Ground cumin (½ tsp)
• 0.3 g Ground cinnamon (a pinch)
• 1.5 g Salt (¼ tsp)
• 60 g dry Basmati rice (⅓ cup dry)
• 170 g (120 g for the rice, 50 g for the sauce) Water (¾ cup (½ cup for the rice, 3 tbsp for the sauce))
• 10 g Butter (¾ tbsp)
• 50 g raw Onion (1.8 oz raw)
• 6 g raw (2 cloves) Garlic
• 5 g raw Fresh ginger (0.2 oz raw)
• 150 g Canned crushed tomatoes (⅔ cup)
• 3 g Sugar (¾ tsp)
• 4 g raw Fresh cilantro (¼ cup chopped)

You'll need: Bowl, Small pan with a lid, Frying pan, Baking tray or grill pan, Grater, Knife, Cutting board, Meat thermometer (helpful).

Method

1. Marinate the chicken

   Cut the chicken into 3 cm (1 inch) chunks. Then scrub the board, knife and your hands with soap before you touch anything else. In a bowl, mix 40 g (about 3 tbsp) of the yogurt with half the curry powder, half the paprika, the cumin and a pinch of the salt. Coat the chicken and leave it for at least 10 minutes, or up to a day in the fridge.

   Yogurt makes the chicken tender. That's why it's in almost every Indian marinade.

2. Cook the rice

   Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear, then put it in a small pan with 120 g (½ cup) of the water and a pinch of the salt. Bring to a boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Leave it covered off the heat for 5 minutes, then fluff it with a fork.

   Don't lift the lid while the rice cooks. The steam does the work, and letting it out leaves the rice hard in the middle.

3. Char the chicken

   Spread the chicken on a lined tray and put it under a hot broiler for 10–12 minutes, turning once, until charred in spots and cooked through to 74°C (165°F). A very hot grill pan works too.

   Those dark spots are flavor. You want a little char, like a tandoor gives.

4. Make the butter sauce

   Finely chop the onion and grate the garlic and ginger. Melt the butter in the frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger, the rest of the curry powder and paprika, and the cinnamon for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, 50 g of water and the rest of the salt, and simmer for 8 minutes until thick.

   The butter goes in first, so its flavor carries through the whole sauce, even with this small amount.

5. Bring it together

   Add the chicken to the sauce and warm through for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the rest of the yogurt until creamy. Scatter with cilantro and serve with the rice.

   Always add yogurt off the heat. If it boils, it splits into grainy bits.

Swaps

• Greek yogurt in the sauce → Light coconut milk (50 g)A dairy-free sauce if you also swap the butter for oil.
• Chicken breast → Skinless chicken thighsJuicier and closer to the restaurant version, at about 60 kcal more.