Seema Pankhania’s Butter Chicken

Preheat the grill to the highest setting. Mix together the garlic/ginger/chilli paste ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients, and stir in half the garlic/ginger/ chilli paste. Add the chicken and mix well. If you are making this ahead you can now cover and leave in the fridge until the next day. If not, carry on as below.

Place the marinated chicken on an oven tray and grill until it’s charred, about 5–6 minutes on each side. It doesn’t need to cook through at this stage.

In a large pan, melt the butter over a medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the finely chopped onions along with the optional star anise, the cinnamon stick, cloves and cumin seeds. Cook the onions for about 10 minutes, until they turn golden and caramelized. Then add the rest of the garlic/ginger/chilli paste, the ground spices, salt and the tomato purée. Cook for another 10 minutes, until the tomato purée separates from the oil.

Add the tinned tomatoes and cook for 15–20 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the oil separates from the tomato mixture, creating a rich sauce.

Add the grilled chicken, along with any cooking liquid. Stir in the double cream and add the dried fenugreek leaves, if using. Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked through.

Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with rice and naan bread.

NOTE → Don’t stress about the whole spices – they’re optional. If you’ve got them, toss ’em in. But there’s no need to make a special trip to the store. What’s important, though, is to use good-quality chilli powder from the international foods aisle at your local supermarket. It really makes a difference!

VARIATION – MAKE IT VEGGIE → Swap the chicken and yoghurt for 400g of paneer and 50g of cornflour. Toss it with the same spices until well coated, then lift individual pieces of tofu into the pan and pan-fry it until it’s deliciously golden. Add it to the dish at the same point you’d include the chicken.

SERVING IDEA → Serve this with buttered naan, a side of rice, and some sliced red onions tossed in a lemon dressing.

LEFTOVERS → Make a quick little butter chicken toastie by layering cheese, green chutney and leftover curry between two slices of bread and toasting until golden.