Indian Butter Chicken

This has become an absolute family favorite! It's so easy and truly delicious. Everyone loves chicken tikka masala but that involves marinating and grilling the chicken which takes some serious forethought and effort. We've found that we like butter chicken just as much and it's way less work. It works great in an Instapot but could also work fine in a crockpot. 

Many people in my family make variations of this recipe quite regularly and we often have it at family reunions at Bear Lake - it feeds a crowd very nicely!

Ingredients:

2 14-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (or 1 28-ounce cans)

6-10 cloves of minced garlic (can use 1-2 tablespoons bottled minced garlic, depends on how much you like garlic!)

2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp garam masala (fresh ground if you have it)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated ginger)

1 tsp cayenne pepper or pepper flakes (a little more if you want it more spicy, a little less if you aren't crazy about spiciness)

2 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika works)

2 tsp kosher salt

2-3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (or use thighs if you like) - some people like it more saucy, others like more chicken in it

4 tsp (half a cube) of butter (cut into small pieces)

12-16 ounces (or 1 1/2 to 2 cups) of heavy cream (or full fat coconut milk to make it dairy-free) - use less to make it more tomato-y and spicy, more to make it more creamy

1 cup chopped cilantro (or more if you like cilantro - we use about 2 cups for this size recipe)

4 cups Basmati rice (or more if you like a lot of rice with your sauce)

Instructions:

Place all ingredients prior to the chicken in the order listed into the instant pot. Mix the sauce well then push the chicken into the sauce, making sure the chicken is well-coated and mostly submerged. Close the cooker and set for 10-20 minutes on high (20+ for thick frozen chicken breasts, 10-12 for defrosted chicken breasts) then let it release pressure naturally for 10 minutes. After that, release all remaining pressure. 

Open up the pot, remove the chicken and place on cutting board.  Chop up the chicken into small bite-sized chunks. Let the tomato mixture cool a bit while you chop the chicken. Then stir the butter, cream and 1/4 cup chopped cilantro into the sauce. Stir the chicken into the sauce. If the sauce is really thin, don't worry, it'll thicken as you let it cool a bit. 

Cook the basmati rice according to the rice package or your rice cooker's directions. Cook the rice with about 1/2 tsp salt per cup of rice. Mix in some cumin seeds and a splash of oil or some ghee (clarified butter) after cooking if you want to make it fancy and extra flavorful.

Serve the curry and chicken sauce over the basmati rice (or used riced cauliflower or chopped spinach if you like).

Makes 6-8 servings

* Adapted from a recipe my sister Saydi got from my sister-in-law Julie and I'm not sure where it originally came from!