Butter Chicken

Ingredients for tikka:

• 1-1.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thigh
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons yogurt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 green chili
• 1.5 teaspoons garlic paste (or ~1 tsp garlic powder)
• then either:
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
• OR
  • 1.5-2 tsp rajah tandoori masala

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1 small white onion
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 green chili
• 1-2 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1.5 tablespoon of oil
• 1 small can tomato sauce (or puree can of diced tomatoes)
• 0.5-1 tsp cumin
• 3/4 to 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 0.5-1 tsp garam masala
• 1/8 tsp cinamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 oz (half a stick) unsalted butter
• 3 oz heavy cream (or half and half)
• 1-1.5 tsp sugar
• 5 unsalted cashews powdered (can also mix about 1-1.5 tsp cashew butter in hot water and then add to curry)

Instructions for tikka:

1. Cut each chicken thigh into 2 to 3 pieces or whatever size you want in the curry
2. Marinate chicken in lemon juice and salt for 30 min to an hour (not a big deal if not full hour)
3. Add masala, ginger paste, yogurt and oil to marinade and let marinate for 2-3 hours
4. Partially bake on skewers at 400 degrees for 15 minutes (note: it’s ok if it’s not finished cooking, you’ll finish it in the sauce)

Instructions for sauce:

1. Grind onion, green chili, lemon juice and ginger paste in a blender until it’s a fine paste
2. Add oil to pot, fry onion paste until it’s browned/no longer raw smelling. If you have a thin bottomed pot, take this step slow and do it on low heat so as not to burn things (note: be careful not to burn the paste, at first the water will just cook off and then once the water has boiled off it will start browning relatively quickly, although it may take a while to cook off all the water first)
3. Add tomato sauce, salt and dry spices and cook until the oil begins to separate. This can take a while (20-30 minutes) but is important for flavor. Just keep it simmering and periodically stir, eventually you’ll see small sections of red oil begin to pool on the surface of the sauce.
4. Add butter
5. Slowly add the heavy cream or half and half, stirring slowly as you pour
6. Add the sugar and cashew nut powder (or cashew butter) while stirring
7. Add the chicken and simmer until chicken fully cooked (165 F inside)