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“Butter” “Chicken”
If you are looking for a healthy, yummy, quick and easy weeknight meal then look no further – you’ve found it right here! This veganified and healthified butter chicken is whipped up in less than 30 minutes and is soo delicious!
I wish I had more of this butter chicken to photograph! We enjoyed this creamy, saucy butter chicken last night and I had to wait for a bit of sunshine to take photos of it with… let’s just say it was hard to “leave” some behind for today’s photoshoot 😉
I have LOVE Indian food but for a long time I was intimidated to cook it! Let’s just say I’ve made a few curries that went horribly wrong…BUT after a few successful curries later I have learned a few tricks of the trade that I will share with you to make this butter chicken dish your best!
Here are some tips that I picked up along the way to make your Butter Chicken process easy and flawlesss !
- Cut up all your veggies in advance so that you can easily add them to the pan when they are ready
- Sautee the onions and garlic until they are slightly browned in the beginning – this makes the dish so much more flavourful!
- Add the spices to the oil and heat them up for about 30 seconds before mixing them in with the onion and garlic mixture – this brings out so much flavour!
- If you are pressed for time, nuke the cauliflower florets for a couple of minutes in the microwave to get them a bit softer (but not fully cooked) to shorten cooking time!
- Wait to add your hot pepper. I added a super hot pepper to this dish near the end of the cooking process after tasting it. Let’s just say that last curry I made I added too much hot pepper at the beginning and I was one of the only ones who could finish it :O
- Keep stirring the butter chicken as you are cooking it to ensure that all the spices are getting incorporated well into the sauce! D:
Vegan “Butter” “Chicken”
- Total Time: 40
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 2 Cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tbsp Peanut/Coconut Oil
- 2 tbsp Lemon (juice from half a lemon)
- 1/2 cup + extra as needed Water
- 2 cups Tomato Puree
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 2 cups Cauliflower, chopped up into medium sized pieces
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 1 cup Cashew/Coconut milk
- 2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp of each Cinnamon, Cayenne, Cumin, Ginger
Instructions
- In a large, deep pan saute the garlic and onions in a couple tablespoons of water, over medium-high heat, until slightly browned and most of the water is soaked up (about five minutes). Add water when necessary. Watch closely to make sure that the garlic and onions don’t stick to the pan.
- Put all the spices in a little bowl and stir them together.
- Move the garlic and onion to the side of the pan. Add the peanut oil to the hot pan then add the spices to the hot oil and mix them altogether. This forms a little paste. Cook the spices in the hot oil for about 30 seconds. Mix the spices in with the garlic and onion mixture. Add the lemon juice.
- Now that your onions, garlic and spices are well incorporated cook for about 3 minutes to get incorporate the flavours well. I had to add about 1/4 cup of water at this point to make sure that the onions and garlic did not stick to the pan.
- Add tomato puree. Bring to a light boil and then turn the stove down to a medium low heat.
- Mix the honey into the sauce.
- Add cauliflower florets. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add chickpeas. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add Cashew milk. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- I left my butter chicken on the stove for about another 10 minutes on a very low simmer, stirring every so often, to make sure the flavours incorporate well into each other 😀 If you are pressed for time, you can skip this step!
- Voila! Serve over rice or enjoy this hearty dish by itself!
Notes
- Nutritional Benefits: No cholesterol, high in fiber, high in iron, very high in vitamin C, high in manganese
- Notes: My recipe uses cashew milk which adds a wonderful, creamy flavour to this dish. It also helps to thicken up and add some substance to the sauce. Cashew milk is amazing, delicious and so creamy. I started drinking it a few weeks ago and love it! I made the switch because almond milk is super expensive here! Don’t let the cashew milk in this recipe intimidate you. If you have a blender, cashews and some water you are set! Here is the recipe I swear by! But if you don’t have these items on hand (or are allergic to nuts) just go and pick up some coconut milk!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
My Question to you:
I have always loved Indian food. There is this small Indian restaurant in Toronto with the Best Indian food ever – it is called Sher-e-punjab! Apparently it is one of the first Indian restaurants to open in the city! I love everything there from the warm naan to the rice pudding they bring you at the end of the meal! I don’t know if I could ever decide on what my favourite Indian dish is… but Butter Chicken would come pretty close 😉
What’s your favourite Indian Dish?
Girlfriend, you are my hero du jour! My whole family love, love, loves Indian food! My little daughter’s very favorite Indian dish is Butter Chicken, but I normally opt for a vegetarian selection (my fave being Narvatan Korma) – this is the perfect blend of her Butter Chicken with a veggie option! Yay! And as much as we love the food from the Indian restaurant in our town, I 100% know that’s it’s not nearly as healthy as if I’d made it myself at home! So excited about this recipe! Pinning, of course!! 😀
Thanks Shelley – this is still one of my favourite go-to dinners! I’ve never heard of Narvatan Korma but now need to try it out! Thanks for the pin!
Thanks for stopping by Sara 😀 !! I need to try some new Indian dishes – I just love this one so much! LMK if you like it!
I am SO excited to try these! I love Indian food too and once I get some cauliflower, I’ll be making them 🙂 Thanks for such an awesome blog Ceara!
Foodgasm!!!!
hahaha! Thanks Stefaan!!!