Butter chicken plus spelt naan bread- new version

This makes a lot, I would say at least 8 serves which would be 150g chicken per person, you might get 9 or 10 portions if you want less meat.

This is such a nice sauce and can be used as vegetarian. I would use chickpeas, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken breast, cut chunky- I prefer to use thighs as they have more flavor. If you need to stretch it out you could use 2kg chicken, but you would have a little less sauce on each plate

1 brown onion

3 cm piece of ginger

1 red chilli, deseeded

100g butter

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cardamom

3 tsp garam masala

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick- or ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 x 400g tin tomatoes

250g tomato paste

300ml cream- check consistency add a little water if it needs thinning.

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

Method

Blitz in a food processor or finely chop by hand your ginger, onion and chilli.

Melt butter in a large pot and add your ginger, onion and chilli, cook stirring for 30 seconds. Add your spices and cook a further 1 minute until you can smell all the lovely aromas!

Then add your tomato paste,canned tomatoes, star anise, cinnamon stick, lemon juice, salt and cream (and some water if needed) Let this simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors can cook together.

If you don’t want any chunks and you want to have a smooth sauce you can strain the sauce and press out the sauce into another pot, this is what I did.

If staining add the star anise and cinnamon stick back to your pot so they cook with the chicken.

Add your chicken** to the sauce and simmer a further 20 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink inside. 

I had this with basmati rice, spelt naan bread (recipe below) roasted cauliflower and steamed green beans.

***You can brown your chicken in a pan with a  little oil first and then add to your sauce if you wanted. If using thigh I would do this to render some of the fat off so you don't eat up chewing on bits of soft fat!

Spelt naan bread

Makes 6

Ingredients

300g spelt flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp honey

7g, 1 sachet or 2 tsp yeast

Warm water

Method

Mix the flour, salt and honey together, add enough water until the dough comes together, knead for 5-10 minutes, or use a dough hook on a machine. You want it to be a little sticky, smooth and elastic. Don’t have it too dry. You should be able to stretch it without it breaking straight away. Leave in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to double in size. Depending on weather about an hour. 

Take out and divide into 6 balls. Using your hands, not a rolling pin-using a rolling pin takes all the air out- form circles or triangle shape, whatever shape you like really. Use a little flour if you need to. 

Leave to rise again on a floured surface (so they don’t stick) and cover with cling film or baking paper and a tea towel on top for 30-60 minutes. Both rises you can leave more than an hour if you wanted.

When ready heat a pan or griddle pan until very hot. Place your bread down and cook about 2 minutes each side until it has brown spots and has puffed up. Try not to overcook it or will go crunchy!  When done brush over some garlic butter and a sprinkle of nigella seeds or black sesame seeds if you like. Eat as soon as possible!