If you’ve never had Butter Chicken before, there’s a chance the name alone is freaking you out a little (or you’re currently changing into your swimsuit, so you can dive right in to this promise of decadence). A mild disclaimer: our Butter Chicken IS lush, but it’s not that lush. Butter Chicken is a kind of curry, and for people who aren’t super familiar with Indian food, they might already be confused that there’s more than one kind of curry, and how we can have close to a dozen different types of “curry powder.” “Curry” is one giant umbrella term that has rather lazily been applied to vegetables and proteins that’s been cooked in some kind of sauce with a blend of spices, which sounds like basically… anything. Usually curry is associated with Indian cooking, but “curries” also pop up in Japanese and Jamaican cuisines as well.

Butter Chicken was the happy baby of another keystone of Indian staples, the Tandoori Chicken. Likely born from the same culinary mind, the yogurt and lemon juice the chicken is marinated jazzes up and tenderizes our dish, making it a god-send to leftovers.

Let’s talk tomatoes. If you are one of those people that can’t do a red sauce at Olive Garden, chances are this won’t be the curry for you. In terms of spice levels, Butter Chicken has more of a tang than a real flare, and the Kashmiri Chile Powder that’s used is actually pretty sweet and fruity. Madras Curry Powder has some red pepper flakes and also a little bit of brown mustard for a bit of a zing that plays well with the acidity and brightness of the tomatoes (Chef Jeff, as always, stresses the importance to make sure you’re buying tomatoes that aren’t ‘tomato basil’ or ‘tomato garlic’ or whatever else they’re canning tomatoes with these days). To help balance the zing in the Madras there’s also some fragrant fenugreek and cinnamon, both spices that are known for their dessert-y fragrances- in this same thought, Garam Masala has more cinnamon, along with clove and nutmeg… ingredients you might recognize from a very familiar Pumpkin Pie Spice ingredient list. This balance of tartness (lemon juice, fresh minced ginger, tomato), sweetness (demerara sugar, cinnamon, caramel-y scented fenugreek) and a beautiful smoky note from our Black Cardamom Pods that are uniquely warm and savory that help make Butter Chicken a dish that could appeal to anyone who is looking for a recipe to check off all the boxes mid-winter comfort meal checklist.

Makes 5 servings.