Butter Chicken is one of the most popular dishes in the North Indian cuisine. Usually, the recipe calls for at least 2 sticks of butter (well, it’s called Butter Chicken for a reason, after all!). My version of the classic was inspired by a recipe from bhratzkitchen (check it out if you want to make the real thing). I tweak the recipe so that it uses only half a tablespoon of butter. Very low fat yet full of all the traditional flavors.
Low Fat Butter Chicken
Ingredients
Basic Marinade
- 2 lbs Skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into 1" cubes
- 1½ tbsp Minced garlic
- 1½ tbsp Finely grated ginger
- 2 tbsp Red chili powder
- 1 Lemon juiced
- 1 tsp Salt
Chicken Tikka
- 300 gms Fat-free plain greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp Chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp Red chili powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander powder
- 1 bsp Garam masala
- 1 tbsp Dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 tbsp Chaat masala optional
- 1 tsp Salt
Sauce
- 1 Red onion thinly sliced
- 30 gms Cashew nuts
- 1 Bay leaf
- 6 Whole dried red chilies
- 6 Green cardamom pods
- 6 Whole cloves
- 2 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 Black cardamom
- 2 cups Water
- ½ tbsp Butter
- 3-5 Fresh thai green chilies
- 1 tbsp Finely grated ginger
- 1 tbsp Minced garlic
- 16 oz Tomato puree
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Garam masala
- 1 tbsp Dried fenugreek leaves
Instructions
Basic Marination
- Toss the chicken pieces with all the ingredients under Basic Marinade and set aside while you prepare for the Tikka.
Making Chicken Tikka
- Hang the greek yogurt in a thin cheesecloth or muslin cloth, for about 30-45 minutes, to drain all the whey out.
- Preheat the oven/air fryer to 425° F.
- Heat a skillet on the stove. Add the chickpea flour and dry roast it on medium heat, stirring continuously. Roast the flour until you can smell its aroma and the flour changes its color from pale yellow to light brown. Once this happens, quickly remove the pan from the heat since the flour burns quickly after this point. Add chili powder to the skillet, bring the skillet back on the stove, and roast the mix on very low heat, stirring continuously, until you can smell the aroma of the chili powder. At this point, tip the mixture out of the hot skillet into a bowl. We don't want the chickpea flour or the chili powder to burn.
- Add half of the chickpea flour mixture to the marinating chicken. Save the other half, we'll use it in the sauce later.
- Add the hung greek yogurt and all the other ingredients under Chicken Tikka to the chicken and nicely coat all the pieces with the spices.
- Thread the chicken pieces into skewers. Bake them for 25 minutes in the preheated oven. If you have an air fryer, air fry them at 425° F for 25 minutes. Make sure to rotate the skewers every 8 minutes or so. If using the oven, broil the chicken pieces for a few minutes towards the end. The goal is to lightly char the chicken pieces on the outside but still leave them slightly under-cooked inside. Fully cooking the chicken at this stage will result in dry chicken in the curry. We'll finish cooking the chicken when we mix it with the sauce later.
- Take the chicken tikka out of the skewers and set them aside covered in a bowl.
Making the Sauce
- Add the thinly sliced onions, cashew nuts, and other whole spices (bay leaf, whole red chilies, green cardamom, whole cloves, cinnamon stick and black cardamom) to a pan. Add the water and let it come to a boil on high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and let the spices cook until the cashews are soft and the onion has changed its color, about 5-7 minutes.
- Transfer the onion mixture out of the pan and let it cool a little. Add a few ice cubes to fasten the cooling process. Once cool enough to handle, blend the mixture in a blender until smooth.
- In a pan, melt the butter at low heat and add the green chili, ginger, and garlic. Saute until ginger and garlic are no longer raw, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the tomato puree and saute until the puree changes color to a rusty red and you can no longer smell the rawness in the tomatoes. This step is crucial and needs some patience because we are not frying the tomato puree in a stick of butter.
- Once the tomato puree is cooked, pour the onion mix through a fine mesh sieve into the pan and mix well.
- Add the remaining chickpea flour and red chili mix, sugar, salt (adjust to taste), garam masala, and fenugreek leaves to the pot. Let the sauce come to a boil.
- Add the chicken tikka to the sauce and mix well. Wait until the sauce is boiling again, cover the pan, and let it all cook together for 5-7 minutes at medium heat.
- Butter chicken is ready once chicken is cooked through (165° F). Enjoy with a side of your choice!
