- 1 day ago
An easy, homemade version of your favorite Indian recipe. In this video, Chef John teaches you how to make golden butter chicken, a simple one-pan version of the classic Indian dish. Sear and season chicken thighs, adding in chicken broth and cream, simmering everything together until it’s turned into a golden, creamy sauce. Serve up a portion over fluffy rice and enjoy!
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with one pan golden butter chicken.
00:08That's right, you've had butter chicken, but you've never had my golden butter chicken,
00:12which we're going to do in just one pan in about 20 minutes or so.
00:16Plus, later on, I'm going to show you an easy technique for making that perfect, fragrant, fluffy rice you get
00:22at the Indian restaurants.
00:23But first things first, and to begin our butter chicken, we will melt some butter in some vegetable oil over
00:30medium-high heat,
00:32and then we'll add some diced onion along with a big pinch of salt.
00:35And by the way, if you have ghee, use ghee, which is the Indian-style clarified butter in which this
00:41is traditionally cooked.
00:43But don't worry, the oil and butter works perfectly fine.
00:46But either way, we'll saute our onions for a couple minutes until they start to turn translucent and start to
00:52take on a little bit of color.
00:53At which point, we'll transfer in our chicken, which for me is going to be some boneless, skinless thighs that
00:58I cut in about 1 1⁄2-inch pieces.
01:01And what we'll do once that's transferred in is kind of push them down flat against the pan in one
01:05single nice even layer.
01:07And while the meat starts to sear a little bit on the bottom, we'll go ahead and start sprinkling our
01:11spices over the top,
01:13starting with some garam masala, which is the key ingredient here.
01:17So make sure you find some, which should not be hard.
01:20And then we'll follow that with some smoked paprika, some ground cumin, plus a spoon of turmeric,
01:26which is one of the things that makes this golden butter chicken, as is the next addition, which is a
01:31little bit of cinnamon.
01:33And what we'll do is give this a good stir.
01:35And then we'll let those spices cook onto the surface of the chicken for a few minutes,
01:40just to wake up the flavors and infuse that oil, butter, and chicken fat in the pan.
01:45All right, classically, you toast the spices whole and then grind them and add them like that.
01:50But this shortcut method works really well.
01:52And once we've cooked that stirring for a few minutes, we'll make a space in the middle,
01:56and we'll drizzle in just a touch more oil,
01:58and then we'll add a very generous amount of finely minced or grated ginger,
02:02along with some crushed garlic, and we'll sizzle that in the middle for about 30 seconds
02:07before we stir it all together and cook it for another minute or so.
02:11And the idea to add the turmeric and the cinnamon in this more than usual amount of ginger
02:16was actually inspired by the warm drink called golden milk,
02:20which I make for Michelle once in a while.
02:22And I had an idea for brazen chicken in that.
02:25But I also wanted to make butter chicken, so I merged the two ideas.
02:28And as you'll hear later, I was thrilled with the results.
02:32But anyway, after we cook our ginger and garlic, we'll make another space in the middle,
02:36and we will add our tomato paste, and we'll cook that for a little bit
02:39before mixing everything together.
02:42And by the way, I like using the paste because it's already concentrated and intensely flavored.
02:47But there are versions with this used in fresh tomato or tomato sauce or tomato puree.
02:52So if you don't have tomato paste but you have those things, go ahead and use that instead.
02:56And once we've cooked that stirring for a few minutes,
02:59and it's starting to caramelize onto the bottom of the pan,
03:02we will finish this with a splash of chicken broth, as well as a cup of cream.
03:07And we'll stir everything together while this comes up to a simmer,
03:10making sure we're using our spatula to scrape any goodness off the bottom of the pan,
03:15since we absolutely want that dissolving into our sauce.
03:18And once that's been accomplished, and our sauce is simmering enthusiastically like this,
03:23we'll reduce our heat to medium-low, and we'll let this cook for like three or four minutes,
03:28at which point our sauce should have thickened nicely,
03:31not to mention be looking absolutely gorgeous.
03:34And at this point, we're basically done,
03:36except for one last very important step,
03:39which is to reduce our heat to low,
03:41and stir in a chunk of cold butter,
03:43just to add a little bit of extra richness,
03:46and to add some additional shine to the appearance.
03:49Plus, this is butter chicken, after all.
03:51So we'll stir that in,
03:53and of course, as always, we'll give it a taste,
03:56and you can adjust the seasoning if you want.
03:58I mean, you are, after all, the Siddhartha
04:00of making this as good as Martha,
04:02who I've heard makes a great butter chicken.
04:05Oh, and before we serve this up,
04:07let me quickly show you a great technique
04:08for getting that perfect fluffy basmati rice you get at the Indian restaurants.
04:13And what we'll do is take a couple cups of that,
04:15and we'll put it in a bowl and take it to the sink,
04:18where we're going to rinse it very thoroughly with cold, fresh water.
04:21And after we fill it up and swish it around,
04:23we'll drain off the starchy water,
04:25and we'll refill it,
04:27and we'll repeat that process three or four times,
04:30until that water is relatively clear,
04:32or it doesn't have to be crystal clear,
04:34but hopefully it looks something like this.
04:37And what we'll do is not pour off the water this time,
04:39but we'll simply let that sit and soak for exactly 20 minutes,
04:43while we bring three quarts of water up to a simmer.
04:46And while that's happening, we'll add some salts,
04:48as well as one bay leaf,
04:50and a couple of cardamom pods,
04:52which are optional,
04:53but they do add a gorgeous fragrance to the rice.
04:56And since we're waiting for our rice to soak,
04:58we might as well simmer those in the water.
05:00And after our rice has soaked for 20 minutes,
05:02we'll drain off the water,
05:03and we'll transfer that rice in,
05:06and we'll give it a quick stir,
05:08and we'll set our timer for exactly seven and a half minutes.
05:11And while the rice cooks, we can give it a couple stirs.
05:14And once our timer rings,
05:16we will dump that into a strainer,
05:18and we'll let that drain for like 30 seconds,
05:21before we very carefully, but very quickly,
05:23transfer that into some kind of pot or dish,
05:26at which point we're going to cover it tightly,
05:28and let it steam for six minutes.
05:30And it's that trapped-in steam that's actually going to finish the cooking.
05:34And because the top of this dish wasn't perfectly flat,
05:37I added a towel to get a tight seal,
05:39before I put the plate over the top,
05:41which worked great,
05:42except I forgot to dampen the towel,
05:44which prevents the rice from sticking.
05:46So when I uncovered this, guess what?
05:48Oh yeah, the rice stuck.
05:50Which is fine.
05:51That little bit of towel rice made for a nice chef's neck.
05:54And then the last step here is we'll take a fork,
05:57and we'll give this a proper fluff-in.
05:59And if everything goes according to plan,
06:01you're going to have some gorgeous, perfectly fluffy rice,
06:04where all the grains are still a little bit firm,
06:06but perfectly tender.
06:08And they should be all separate,
06:09and not sticky and clumping together.
06:11And by the way, I used a California basmati rice.
06:14All right, if you want the real deal,
06:16you have to get imported Indian-aged basmati rice,
06:19which works even better,
06:20and the grains are longer and even more beautiful.
06:23And that's it.
06:24To serve our golden butter chicken,
06:26I do like to garnish with some freshly torn cilantro.
06:29Although, Michelle wants me to tell you,
06:31it's not just a garnish.
06:33It's actually a key ingredient,
06:34since that freshness helps cut through
06:36the richness of the chicken.
06:38And before I plait it up,
06:39I had to take a couple bites,
06:41which really were phenomenal.
06:43I mean, for a quick shortcut method,
06:45the chicken was perfectly cooked,
06:47and the flavor was deep and profound.
06:50And that's it.
06:51I went ahead and served some up
06:51in our perfect basmati rice.
06:54And after you serve up the chicken,
06:56you're going to want to add
06:57an extra spoon or two of sauce.
06:59Okay, if you ever find yourself
07:00in the unlikely scenario,
07:02where someone forces you to choose
07:03between the chicken and the sauce on the rice,
07:05I know it sounds crazy,
07:07but you're going to want to go with the sauce.
07:09And after you make and try this,
07:10you'll know what I'm talking about.
07:12And yes, if you have to,
07:14you can use chicken breast for this,
07:16which is even faster,
07:17since that will cook through quicker.
07:19But I hope you don't,
07:21since the thighs are definitely more flavorful,
07:23and do stay moister,
07:24and I think have a better texture.
07:26But anyway, suit yourself.
07:28And besides the fact that this was
07:30very fast and easy to make,
07:31and as I've already mentioned,
07:33could not be more delicious,
07:34I think the color of this
07:36is just so gorgeous,
07:37and so enticing.
07:38So if you're a fan of Indian food,
07:41and butter chicken in particular,
07:43I think this is an absolute must-make,
07:45which is why I really do hope
07:47you give this a try soon.
07:49So please follow the links below
07:50for the ingredient amounts,
07:52a printable written recipe,
07:53and much more info as usual.
07:56And as always,
07:59enjoy.
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