Today my friends we cook Butter Chicken!

I start by wetting my re-washed chux cloth, which I gently fold once in half and place on a clean work surface. Then I take a green chopping board (Veg Board) and fetch myself two white onions from the vegetable dry store (my changing room!) I peel these by hand like any good english trained cook and begin with a very fine slice with a sharp thin catering utility knife. The slice works from one side of half an onion, over and around the core of the onion (which I discard) making sure the onion doesn’t fall apart. I then twist the onion and begin to slice microscopicly fine across the slice. This gives me a nice Bruniose dice. similarly I fine dice some fresh ginger root and coriander stalk. I heat my heavy steel base pot at a medium heat with a dash of refined oil. Taking a block of butter, I cut on a white chopping board (Dairy Board) and cut three length way slices and dice in 12 pieces. I take eight cubes and drop in my nice warm pot. Once the butter has reached a gentle bubbling consistency, I drop in my ginger and a small spoon full of pre blended garlic cloves in olive oil and cook till light brown and gently sticky. This is called Natural Caramalisation. Quickly as the garlic has browned, I drop in my onion and coriander root. As the juice of the onion sweats into the butter, garlic and ginger, it forms the beginning of a sauce and prevents the garlic from ging black with burn. Now I can start adding seasoning to my sauce. By cooking salt into the base ingredients I help to release their natural flavour. By adding a sprinkle of brown sugar I add a sweet finish to counter any acidity added by a spoon full of tomato paste (which gives good colour to the end product) and a wooden spoon dollop of Asian Home Gourmet Tika Masala paste (which I prefer to the butter chicken paste option).

Now I have my base prepared I can set it aside and get my yellow chopping board (Poultry Board) and take my personally engraved non factory German hand crafted steel cooking knife designed and made for Victoria Knox in Germany and give it a quick sharpen with a diamond steel (a tempting option of steel for its fast convenience, however the diamond steel may take more of your blade over time, leaving you a bit short on the base of the knife when you reach 60yrs and declare yourself a Masterchef!!). I skin some chicken breast and dice in roughly 15 cubes depending on the size of the breast. Im using chicken breast today as I have chicken breast to roast to order tonight for some guests and by using one cut of chicken for both meals, I keep a fresher product over the week. If you’re at home try Chicken Thigh for a longer cooking time to extract more chicken flavour into your dish. The diced chicken breast is then added to the butter chicken base. Mix it through over heat untill all the butter, onion, garlic, coriander root, seasoning and paste have combined and the flesh of the chicken has just turned white. I then take half a litre of Campbell’s chicken stock, one small can of Kara coconut cream, and a half litre of cream. Bring these to the boil in a separate sauce pan, spoon your Butter Chicken mix into the creamy coconut stock and poach at a low heat untill the breast is just cooked, remove from heat and drop in you fine sliced coriander leaf (you may also decide to thick your sauce slightly here with cornflour or arrowroot) . I actually leave the leaf till a butter chicken is ordered by one of our local bar customers. I also serve this with Jasmine rice that is pre washed and cooked absorption method with a final rinse to cool! The rice is reheated in a microwave to order.If your at home and serving to the family or friends straight from the stove then use a boiling water pot for your final rinse of starch, then strain and serve hot!!

Just to finish with a condiment I serve with a deep fried wonton pastry instead of a popadom (only because I havent long distance freight ordered any yet) for a bit of Asian fusion lol… If at home fry in shallow oil and flip, also try a nice fruity chutney on the side!

This is not an authentic indian curry, but neither is the title of the dish and Im not trying to impress a hoard of indian chefs, only my local hearty Chatham Island locals! Ayeeee!!!