India - Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)

As I continue with my challenge of learning to cook with foods from around the world, this week I looked to India, and attempted one of my favourite recipes of all time- butter chicken.

One of the first things I learned about making butter chicken is that the recipe actually involves very little actual butter when compared to the other ingredients of the dish. I was very surprised to find out that it actually only called for two tablespoons of butter in the whole recipe! Making this meal was actually a lot of fun, as I am someone who really loves spices, and there are quite a few of them in the dish, which as a result, made my apartment smell incredible. In terms of spices this one dish includes chili powder, cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garam masala, which as I learned is a spice mix commonly used in Indian cooking, made up of more cumin and black pepper, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. As you can see, there are lots of flavours going on there.

I was very happy with the end result here once again, as it turned out nicely, and it tasted the way you would expect butter chicken to taste, which is of course a bonus! This was also the first time I had ever cut raw chicken and then pan-fried it as well, so I took it as a victory that the meat was cooked thoroughly and no one got food poisoning. One thing I probably should have done was to cook the rice a little longer, as it was slightly nutty. The naan I had on the side however, went very well with my chicken. So overall, my Indian inspired dinner was a success!

Finally, as a follow up to last week's Japanese ramen and mochi, I forgot to add another first to that entry! In making the ramen, I also learned how to peel ginger, which was a skill I was able to use again this week for my butter chicken. I also learned since last week that mochi does not keep in the fridge very well. I had wrapped them in plastic wrap, but this made them very soggy and not very nice, so I unwrapped them, but they dried out by the next day. So, that was quite unfortunate but they were quite enjoyable that first day!

FIRSTS THIS WEEK:

• Cut up raw chicken
• Pan-fried chicken
• Cooked with peanut oil
• Learned what garam masala was
• Made ginger-garlic paste
• Learned the difference between tomato sauce, tomato paste, and tomato purée

RECIPES I USED:

• Butter Chicken: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/45957/chicken-makhani-indian-butter-chicken/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringId=1878&referringContentType=recipe%20hub