Instant Pot butter chicken

Last year, I gave you an adequately easy recipe for butter chicken. Today, I want to expand on that:  same ingredients, in an exceptionally...surprising...wait for it....effortless way. I'm excited about  today's story- not a better version of the former- just an alternate road to bring the same meal to your tables at faster, greater frequency.  

Curtains rise. Cue the Instant Pot. Say hello to Present Hero of My Kitchen, my 10 month new appliance I wax poetic about to any person I have on the phone for more than five minutes. The auto timed, multi cooking piece of magnificence is my new companion, a ten in one use grand machine. It is relentless in its pursuit to produce happiness, predominantly mine. The semi adult/ mid teen child look at you like you're a rockstar, your dining room transforms to Moti Mahal in a matter of minutes-  ALL because of what I'm about to share with you. Yes, people, material goods really can lead one to nirvana.

Of course, the next few hundred words are not to persuade you to buy anything, in any way. Except maybe the stuff needed to produce what's made within the six quart pot. Because, seriously,  friends, you'd know, that any time I open script, it should be, only will be, solely about the food. 

Most layfolk, who know not left or right of the spice spectrum, consider butter chicken and it's British-Indian counterpart chicken tikka masala natural starting places on the Indian menu. Both are hugely popular and closely akin. Though it's butter chicken that sings in less spice and more butter, is as desi as it gets and is one of my absolute favorite dishes, just falling short of the regional cuisine I inherited.

There is not really a huge margin of error here since the cooker does most of the work. A simple saute of non-marinade ingredients pressure cook into a beautiful mess, which after going through a hand blender (yahhh- it never leaves the pot !!) mashes into the silkiest, smooth spiced, onion-tomato-ey broth you'll  ever experience.

It is a clean step process. The only executive decision you'd need to make is how to brown the chicken pieces, because it's just better that way. You could brown them in the Instant Pot, take out for gravy making purposes and return to simmer after. Or oven bake for tandoori-like, slightly charred flesh. In either situation, allowing the chicken to commingle and settle into it's upcoming murgh makhani role is what you're really aiming for.

Lastly, I feel obligated to impart some advice, perhaps heathen, from all that I've learned, through years of cooking/recipes/kitchens/habitats. Never think an iconic plate of food, or kitchen technique is unattainable, non doable, or as elaborate as the world and their mother make it out to be. Do use ingredients and methods that deem authenticity, not altering blueprints in such a way that have people wonder what it is. Yet, strive to keep the flow easy, classy, economical, friendlier to busy lifestyles, evolving palates, limited budgets. 

So that we all become fearless champions of not only the kitchen, but even our homes. 
Bring on the capes.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbsp red (Indian)chili powder or cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• salt
• ½ cup plain yoghurt
• juice of one lemon
• 5 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large red onion, cut into medium chunks
• 2 tomatoes, roughly cut into chunks
• 2 tsp thinly sliced ginger
• 6-7 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 1 small-ish cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 1 cardamom pod, 
• 2 sprigs cilantro
• 1 -1 ½ cups water
• 2 tbs sugar
• ¼ tsp powdered fenugreek leaves- kasoori methi (optional)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2-3 tbs of butter
• 1-2 sprigs cilantro, chopped
• 1 sprig mint(optional)

Directions:

• Make a paste of cayenne, coriander, cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, ginger powder, black pepper, salt, yoghurt, lemon juice, 3 tbsp oil.
• Add the chicken pieces and coat each in the spice mixture thoroughly.
• Set aside marinaded chicken for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Using the Instant Pot's saute setting, add 2 tbs. oil and cook onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and stir on high 3 minutes. You don't need to brown them.
• Stir in cinnamon, cloves, cardamom.
• Add cilantro and salt.
• Pour in the water. Stir to combine. 
• Secure the lid and pressure cook on high for 8 minutes. Allow the natural release option to release for 15 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure. Ingredients should be soft cooked and fork tender. 
• In the meantime, place chicken pieces onto a foil lined baking tray. Bake at 400° F  for 20-25 minutes. It's ok if they're slightly undercooked, pieces will finish cooking when later simmered in the IP.
• Open the Pot. Remove, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom.
• Use an immersion stick blender to puree cooked ingredients into a smooth, thick liquid.
• Take the chicken out of oven and put pieces into the pureed onion/tomato sauce.
• Once more, turn on Instant Pot's saute function, simmer the ingredients for an additional 5-7 minutes, more if chicken needs to cook through.
• Taste and add salt, if needed. Add additional water if you desire a more liquid gravy 
• If chicken has not fully cooked through, leave on saute to simmer until cooked.
• Turn off Pot.
• Stir in the sugar. 
• Add powdered fenugreek leaves.
• Add cream, and butter.
• Garnish with cilantro and mint.

Notes:

To kasoori methi or not? I leave out the powder on most occasions. So, I'd say test with a pinch of it and see if it's what you'd like to eat for the next 5 servings.

Curry leaves nod to a much needed South Indian dimension, one which I'm familiar with and oftentimes longing for. I admit, even if I don't have much love for it, fenugreek leaves lend authenticity in fragrance and flavor. An overgenerous serving of butter doesn't hurt either. 

Indian chili powder is just pure ground red chilies. American chili powder is not. It is a combination of several spices, including cumin. I cannot vouch for the Mexican kind either, or those from other parts of the world.  An appropriate substitute would be cayenne pepper, which is about the same thing.

Honestly, I had not planned this at all, but almost exactly one year ago on this date~

June 2018:butter chicken

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"Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment." Matthew 9:22 (NIV)