This butter chicken recipe is not only dairy free and coconut free, its also free from gluten, eggs, nuts and made predominantly of vegetables, that your family will have no idea are in there!
Ingredients
The Spice Mix
2teaspoonsCumin
2teaspoonsGaram masala
2teaspoonsPaprika
2teaspoonsGinger
2teaspoonsTurmeric
2teaspoonssea salt
1teaspoonpepper
The sauce
¼large cauliflower or 1/2 a large
2small carrots or one large
1large zucchini
1red capsicum
1small onion
3large cloves garlic(about 2 Tablespoons)
3mushrooms
2tomatoes
1cupwater or broth
½cuptomato passata or purée
¼cuplemon juice
500 - 700gboneless chicken breast or thigh.
Chilli to taste
Instructions
Measure out all your spices into a small bowl and set aside. Half will go in your sauce and the other half will coat the chicken.
Cut up the veg into rough pieces, the carrot needs to be the smallest as that takes the longest to cook. Add them to a pot with a swig of olive oil and gently sauté. Add Half of the spice mix and sauté for a few minutes until everything is coated and it smells fragrant. Add the water / stock and cover for ten minutes or until all the veggies are cooked through. (See notes for pressure cooker instructions).
While it's cooking, cut up the chicken into 1cm slices, all of similar size and coat with the remaining spice mix. Set aside to marinate, until the sauce is done.
When the veggies are cooked add them with the cooking water to a blender. Make sure you leave the top open where you would feed things into for the steam to escape or the hot pressure might build up and you will be cleaning butter chicken off your walls! I usually cover the top with a tea towel as I'm blending so none escapes. Blend it all together until the sauce is thick and smooth. Add the tomato passata / purée & lemon juice and mix through. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. If it seems quite sharp or bitter, it may need more salt.
Now you can either put the sauce aside in the fridge and let the chicken marinate further until dinner time (I usually prepare the sauce earlier and then cook the chicken in the sauce at dinner time). Or you can add the sauce back to the pot, gently heat and add your chicken to cook in the sauce. It's a thick mixture and sometimes thick molten bubbles can erupt from your pot, I tend to cover the pot and keep the heat low, so I don't have molten butter chicken bubbles erupt in my face! Check every five mins and remove from the heat when the chicken is all cooked through.
Serve with your choice of rice (basmati, jasmine, white, brown, cauliflower) and if you have more time (said no Mum, ever 😆) you can make my naan bread to go with them. I add chilli oil or flakes / powder to the adult dishes after serving and leave mild for the kids. We dont want to risk any complaints at this point!
Now watch your family inhale their invisible veggies and ask for seconds!
Notes
To make the sauce in a pressure cooker, simply roughly chop all the veggies into page chunks, add to your pot with half the spice mix, and the water, and set to pressure cook for 7-10 minutes. Then Follow the rest of the instructions as above.